Home Box Office (HBO) recently announced that the producers of Game of Thrones will be creating a new show, set in an alternate universe where the south won the Civil War. David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, the Game of Thrones producers, will be teaming up with Nichelle Tramble Spellman from The Good Wife and Malcolm Spellman from Empire to help with the new series, named Confederate.
The show concept has gained a lot of backlash over the idea that the south won the Civil War, because slavery would still exist. However, in an interview with Vulture the producers explain the reasoning for their show.
“It’s an ugly and a painful history, but we all think this is a reason to talk about it, not a reason to run from it. And this feels like a potentially valuable way to talk about it,” said Weiss.
The successful writers are coming together to produce the controversial show because they have a desire to tell how the nation might’ve looked if things had gone differently. The producers were quick to explain that in the world of Confederate, the south did not win; there was a stand-still.
Some speculate that the Spellman’s were added to the team as an effort to diversify the group and make it more tolerable to produce a modern-day slavery TV show. However, the producers of Game of Throne ensured the public that the relationship between the four of them is a partnership where everyone is working together as equals.
Malcolm Spellman explains at the end of an interview with Vulture, “What people need to recognize is, and it makes me really want to get into the show: The sh*t is alive and real today.”
He then wraps up the interview by saying it’s important to put a focus on slavery and bring attention to how the African American community is treated today, specifically because of President Trump.
Although HBO’s announcement about the show made sure to mention the diverse team of contributors, not just the two white producers of Game of Thrones, many critics conveniently focused solely on the white writers.
Journalist Pilot Viruet tweeted, “Give me the confidence of white showrunners telling HBO they wanna write slavery fanfic.”
give me the confidence of white showrunners telling hbo they wanna write slavery fanfic
— pilot (@pilotbacon) July 19, 2017
Do you think it’s a good idea to explore a concept such as modern-day slavery in the southern part of the United States?
