‘Confederate’ Creators Are “Not Actively” Working On The Controversial HBO Series
By Ben Pearson/Nov. 28, 2017 2:30 pm EST
The only problem was, the announcement of that series – which is called Confederate – 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 latest Confederate HBO update below.
In July, a press release announced that Benioff and Weiss had teamed up with Malcolm Spellman (Empire) and Nichelle Tramble Spellman (The Good Wife) to develop Confederate, an alternate history series that takes place during the lead-up to America’s Third Civil War. Here’s the official synopsis:
Confederate 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.
Not so, says The Washington Post (via The Playlist). The Post just published a new report about the future of HBO and included a small update about Confederate, 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.
