Yahoo News Game of Thrones creators spark backlash over plans for new series about a world where slavery is still legal
Creating the gargantuan hit that is Game of Thrones gives you a certain privilege in the TV studio boardroom, certainly.
What should perhaps not be done with that privilege, however, is to attempt to push through a questionable idea possible simply because no one has the willpower to say no to you anymore.
Which is maybe how we got here: HBO now announcing showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss' new project Confederate, which sets itself in an alternate future leading up to a third American Civil War, where the Southern states have successfully seceded from the Union, kept slavery legal and evolved it into a modern institution.
Most worrying, the show promises to examine both sides of the divide: freedom fighters, slave hunters, politicians, abolitionists, journalists, and the executives of a slave-holding conglomerate. Since, clearly, what TV needs is more empathetic slave owner characters.
Considering Game of Thrones has a long history of coming under fire for its representation of people of colour, it's hard to trust that Benioff and Weiss will somehow magically turn this concept on its head and provide thoughtful political critique, instead of mining such a politically tempestuous topic for some cheap, controversial thrills.
The idea, inevitably, hit a strong wave of critique online.
I don't care if it is done tastefully as possible.
The VERY premise is DISGUSTING.
Especially now.
Who are you pandering to?— Unfazed (@unfazed_post) July 19, 2017
How is @HBO showing an "alternate timeline" when the current prison system requires thousands of black people to work with no pay?
— Samuel Sinyangwe (@samswey) July 19, 2017
Our speculative fiction involves us discovering new worlds, within ourselves and without. Theirs is "Welcome back slavery"
— Kev (@secondkoan) July 19, 2017
Two white guys making a show where black slavery features prominently. This is profoundly tone deaf.
— Logan Rapp (@Loganchance) July 19, 2017
Confidential to HBO: Nobody on here thinks #Confederate is a good idea.
— David M. Perry (@Lollardfish) July 19, 2017
That HBO is willing to greenlight Confederate fanfic because it's the GoT guys says something about prestige TV, and I don't think it's good
— Antoine Linguine (@aklingus) July 19, 2017
Benioff and Weiss will be showrunners on the series, collaborating with Nichelle Tramble Spellman (The Good Wife) and Malcolm Spellman (Empire), who will be executive producers and writers.
Game of Thrones airs on HBO every Sunday and is simulcast in the UK on Sky Atlantic every Monday at 2am. The episode is then repeated that night on both Sky Atlantic and NOW TV.
