HBO's 'Confederate' Canceled? Controversial Series in Limbo After Creators Set Sights On New 'Star Wars' Project
Will HBO's controversial series "Confederate" proceed to series? The show was supposed to be the next project from "Game of Thrones" creators David Benioff and D.B. Weiss on the network.
Disney, however, just announced that Benioff and Weiss would work on new materials for its "Star Wars" franchise with Lucasfilm. The duo expressed excitement over the project and stated that they will start writing "Star Wars" stories after the completion of the final season of "Game of Thrones."
HBO president Casey Bloys told TV press people in January that discussions about "Confederate" are still on the table. Benioff and Weiss have an agreement with the network that they would finish "Game of Thrones" before working on "Confederate."
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"It's going to be a year, year and a half before there is anything. They have to finish GoT," Bloys said.
HBO gave "Confederate" a green light last summer with a plan to head to production once "Game of Thrones" wrapped up. The show will delve on a different timeline in American history, where slavery remains legal in a modern world after the Civil War.
"We have discussed 'Confederate' for years, originally as a concept for a feature film," the duo stated when HBO announced the show. "But our experience on 'Thrones' has convinced us that no one provides a bigger, better storytelling canvas than HBO."
The planned series, however, received a backlash from viewers even as there's still nothing to present on the screen. Not a lot of people were comfortable with HBO, Benioff and Weiss mounting a slavery drama. HBO apologized for screwing up the show's announcement, citing it should have handled a complicated subject matter with sensitivity and clarity.
"What we should have done is we should have had the creative team sit down with a room full of thoughtful reporters, engage in a Q&A," HBO CEO Richard Plepler said. "And when we finish 'Thrones,' and when they begin to put pen to paper, and when they form and put meat on the bones of this idea, we will do exactly that."
It remains to be seen, however, where HBO go with "Confederate" now that Benioff and Weiss will be working with Disney.
