HBO orders alternate universe Civil War drama from David Benioff & Dan Weiss

[Kaleb]

Game of Thrones showrunners reveal their next epic HBO series


The Game of Thrones showrunners have revealed their next series, leaving Westeros to create another fantastical and ambitious world-building war drama.

HBO has given a straight-to-series order to Confederate from Emmy-winning GoT creators, writers, and producers David Benioff and Dan Weiss.

The show “chronicles the events leading to the Third American Civil War. The series takes place in an alternate timeline, where the southern states have successfully seceded from the Union, giving rise to a nation in which slavery remains legal and has evolved into a modern institution. The story follows a broad swath of characters on both sides of the Mason-Dixon Demilitarized Zone – freedom fighters, slave hunters, politicians, abolitionists, journalists, the executives of a slave-holding conglomerate and the families of people in their thrall.”

 

[Kaleb]

 

[Fallen Angel]

Sounds intriguing.

 

[Man in the Suit]

This... won't go over well...

 

[Fallen Angel]

This... won't go over well...

Yep I was thinking that n'all after realising what it will be about.

 

[Matt]

Oh, this sounds fantastic. I hope it manages to draw an audience (or some award love) so as to ensure HBO keeps it around. That is to say, the historical fiction genre seems to be hit or miss in the ratings (and while it does seem like this may be set in present times, it will certainly have a historical underlying to it). So I am worried that it may not catch on.

 

[Bam-Bam]

Premise sounds awful.

A world where black people are still chained up slaves in 2017? How about NO!

 

[Primal Slayer]

As long as there are plenty of black leads, I can give it a chance.

 

[DarthSkywalker]

Sounds like it has potential to me. Casting will be important.

 

[Sithborg]

I loved Harry Turtledove's series that followed a Confederate victory through WW2. I think based on who is involved, this may have issues.

 

[THUNDERSTRIKE]

I don't think this is gonna go over well ... this series may be asking for trouble...

 

[cheungcheung]

Sounds interesting

 

[Marvolo]

I love alternative history and have often wondered what the Confederate States would be like today if they had won independence from the Union so to see it realized on screen will be neat. Ill definitely be tuning in.

I don't think this is gonna go over well ... this series may be asking for trouble...

Why? Really this shouldnt be any more "offensive" than Man in the High Castle which has an alternative reality where Nazis rule part of America commiting crimes against humanity, and the Japanese rule the other part of America commiting crimes against humanity. Is it offensive to consider and make a show about what might have happened if the CSA had won the Civil War and kept african americans as slaves. Its not as if D&D are endorsing such a thing.

 

[dude stannis]

That makes me very uncomfortable.

 

[Sithborg]

I love alternative history and have often wondered what the Confederate States would be like today if they had won independence from the Union so to see it realized on screen will be neat. Ill definitely be tuning in.




Why? Really this shouldnt be any more "offensive" than Man in the High Castle which has an alternative reality where Nazis rule part of America commiting crimes against humanity, and the Japanese rule the other part of America commiting crimes against humanity. Is it offensive to consider and make a show about what might have happened if the CSA had won the Civil War and kept african americans as slaves. Its not as if D&D are endorsing such a thing.

I think it is more doubts about the showrunners, than it is on the concept.

 

[dude stannis]

First official still:

 

[Doctor Jones]

This sound really interesting. I highly doubt they're gonna make something like this and not do some interesting things with a premise like this. They hired black writers too, there's no way they're not self aware. It just has to be executed right. Could be groundbreaking if done right. This is what art is about. You can confront issues we're facing now while telling it in an interesting way.

 

[Marvolo]

That makes me very uncomfortable.

It should. Stories like this and Man in the High Castle are meant to be unsettling.

 

[Roose Bolton]

I think this is a big concept and it'll live and die on how much or how little D&D have in the actual storytelling. Game of Thrones has pretty much coasted for the last few seasons on a combination of spectacle and entertaining characters afforded by the framework of GRRM's series. D&D's strength lay in the actual set up and keeping the big machine of the production running rather than narrative or storytelling, so hopefully they'll leave the actual episode to episode writing to others.

 

[Fincher]

This makes me uncomfortable in a way that The Man in the High Castle didn't, and I can think of two reasons why:

1. This is an American series. The Holocaust wasn't American, but slavery was, and it was probably the ugliest part of our nation's history.

2. There's a lot of racial tension these days.

So this set off warning bells before I even saw that the showrunners were white, or that people had issues with their handling of minorities in their other show. A lot of things get a negative reaction that gets reported in the media, like a half-Indian actress being cast for Jasmine, for example, but I think this will be especially bad. I'm betting HBO underestimated the pushback and that this'll never make it to air.

 

[Marvolo]

American slavery and the American Civil War are already dealt with in films and audiences have shown that they are willing to watch films dealing with those two things.

 

[Doctor Jones]

If anything, this is just a positive reinforcement of left values from a dark story. The best stories come out of these uncomfortable situations. People are really taking this at surface level. It's like if you did the same for The Handmaiden's Tale. It just kind of shows some of the flaws of the left if they can't figure out this is a story in service of exploring real world issues today. I'm surprised this story hasn't been done sooner. This show should make people uncomfortable. It's turning things up to level 10.

 

[terry78]

I get what they're trying to do, but you already know the backlash you're gonna get from both ends of the spectrum on this one.

 

[CB Fan]

Yeah I'm not sure about this...

 

[Doctor Jones]

I get what they're trying to do, but you already know the backlash you're gonna get from both ends of the spectrum on this one.

All of which will be reductive. This is the type of behavior you expect from conservatives who take issue with The DaVinci Code.

I highly doubt the network that took out Bill Mahar's use of the n-word signed off on a show that's going to be highly offensive and lose viewership.

People need to chill the **** out and not just be reactive and think.