HBO Moves Forward With Controversial Slavery Drama 'Confederate'

HBO plans to go ahead with its controversial new series Confederate. 

According to TVLine, HBO president Casey Bloys told those in attendance at the Television Critics Association’s summer press tour that the project remains in development. 

“There’s no change. They haven’t written anything. [David Benioff and D.B Weiss] still have to finish digital effects work on [Game of Thrones’ final season]… and they obviously now have the Star Wars movie,” Bloys said. “But at a certain point they’ll tell us when they are ready.”

The series, an hour-long sci-fi drama, imagines a post-Civil War world where the Confederacy has won and slavery is still legal. 

The show has already faced tons of backlash with activist April Reign creating the hashtag #NoConfederate. Last July, Reign told ESSENCE, “The goal of the #NoConfederate campaign is to show HBO the power of those on social media who are vehemently against #Confederate.”

Following the backlash, HBO issued a statement saying that while they “support everybody’s right to express an opinion, the suggestion of irresponsibility on our part is simply undeserved.” 

In February, Deadline reported that the show’s fate might in be in limbo as the show’s creators, Benioff and Weiss, committed to a new series of Star Wars films. However, it now seems nothing will keep HBO from getting Confederate off the ground.