"GOT” creators’ new drama stirs uproar over slavery theme

PanARMENIAN.Net - HBO's new drama from "Game of Thrones" creators/showrunners David Benioff and D. B. Weiss has caused an uproar. The network announced the project titled "Confederate" on Wednesday, July 19, and it soon sparked backlash due to its slavery theme, AceShowbiz said.

According to the network's description of the war drama, the series "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," the description continues.

People soon took to Twitter to express their displeasure. "The writers of a fantasy show with no black people cant wait to write a fantasy show where the black roles are... slaves," Ira Madison III wrote.

Another baffled reader reacted, "I don't know how you keep your sanity in a society so crazy it's still having public slavery fantasies. I really don't. Maybe you can't."

Writer Marc Bernardin snarked, "Feels like HBO should greenlight my show, in which the African slave trade never existed, as parity:"

"Game of thrones just got called out for not having enough diversity and then the writers came up with #Confederate," another commented, while posting a meme.

Should HBO move forward with the plan to make "Confederate", it will mark Benioff and Weiss' first series after they conclude "Game of Thrones", which is set to end after eight seasons. Production on the new war drama is slated to begin after the final season of "Game of Thrones", with Benioff and Weiss on board as showrunners.