The Television Critics Association summer press tour didn’t let HBO off the hook when it came to “Confederate.” The recently announced new show from “Game Of Thrones” duo David Benioff and D.B. Weiss and writers/producers Nichelle Tramble Spellman (“Justified,” “The Good Wife”) and Malcolm Spellman (“Empire”) drew immediate ire for its premise, which will focus on an alternate history where slavery still exists in contemporary, divided America. While the quartet of creators defended their show, they came at it facing an uphill battle of online outrage and scrutiny. Now, HBO admits they perhaps should’ve taken a more delicate approach.
HBO program chief Casey Bloys got candid and admits that announcing such a hot-button series through an email blast to press was probably not the right way to go.
“If I could do it over again, our mistake — HBO’s mistake, not the producers’ — was thinking that we would be able to announce an idea that was so sensitive and require so much care in a press release,” he said, adding that if he could do it over, he would’ve had Benioff, Weiss, and the Spellmans speak with journalists directly about the intentions with the series first.
READ MORE: ‘Game Of Thrones’ Duo David Benioff And D.B. Weiss Spark Controversy With ‘Confederate’
All that said, Bloys also believes in the vision for “Confederate,” and, like its creators, says the series will be used as a conduit to discuss issues that are still quite relevant in the country today.
“If you can draw a line between what we’re seeing in the country today with voter suppression, mass incarceration, lack of access to public education … and draw a direct line to our past, that’s an important line to draw and a conversation worth having. [The producers] all feel it’s a risk worth taking,” he explained.
“The producers said they’re not going to do ‘Gone with the Wind‘ 2017. It’s not whips and plantations. What they envision is what a modern-day version of slavery would look like,” Bloys added.
This might be little relief to those who fear the entire intention of the show is off base, but it’s clear everyone involved is well aware of how sensitive the material they’re handling is. “Confederate” is expected to go into production after “Game Of Thrones” wraps next year. [USA Today/Deadline]
Yeah this one is thorny not because of its subject matter, but because of the angle on the subject matter. “What if the South won the civil war” Well didn’t they win?? What was Jim Crow, what was lynching, what was Johnson’s rescinding of General Order number 15 and instead enacting pig laws all across the south. If the writers of the show are ignorant of just how ingrained racism is in modern day america then they are going to stir the hornet’s nest on this one. The very notion of “What if the south won” is entirely dubious because in many ways the reconstruction period codified a lot of racist southern tradition into the fabric of America and most white American are entirely ignorant of it. If they want to imagine what modern-day slavery looks like, look no further than housing and the prison system and you’re done. Make a show about that and you’ve got your modern day slavery right there.
I mean for fuck sakes they are just now taking down the confederate statues now in 2017. How many black men and women have gone to court and the state capitals in the south and are immediately greeted with the confederate flag flying high over their heads? What exactly do they mean by “What IF.” Like what difference would there be between the “reality” of that show and our reality?