‘Confederate’ Creators Are “Not Actively” Working On The Controversial HBO Series
The only problem was, the announcement of that series – which is calledConfederate– was met with wide derision online and caused the type of response HBO wasn’t initially hoping for: a full-blown controversy. Things have been quiet on the development front since then, but now a new report says the show’s creators are “not actively” working on it…though it does remain in development. Read the latestConfederateHBO update below.
In July, a press release announced that Benioff and Weiss had teamed up withMalcolm Spellman(Empire) andNichelle Tramble Spellman(The Good Wife) to developConfederate, an alternate history series that takes place during the lead-up to America’s Third Civil War. Here’s the official synopsis:
Confederatechronicles 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.
As you probably recall, the announcement was immediately met with an intense backlash, which the producers had to quickly address. Even the president of the networkhad to commenton the controversy, calling the show “a risk worth taking.” In the meantime, Amazonannounced its own alternate history seriescalledBlack Americathat takes the complete opposite approach: their show centers on freed slaves who have been granted three southern states as reparations. Talk about whiplash. We haven’t heard anything about Confederate since then, so I assumed it had been quietly abandoned.
Not so, saysThe Washington Post(viaThe Playlist). The Post just published a new report about the future of HBO and included a small update aboutConfederate, saying the show is “still in development,” but “the creators are not actively working on it” right now. Is that because Benioff, Weiss, and the Spellmans are busy with other projects? Could they be thinking about reshaping the entire premise of the show in the wake of the backlash? We don’t have any more details at this time; this is a tough issue to parse. It’s safe to say people have strong feelings about this show (which, again, hasn’t even been written yet), but I’m very curious to see whether they soldier on with this or end up leaving it on the sidelines and moving on to something else entirely. We’ll keep you in the loop.
