Outrage over GoT creators’ new show on ‘legal slavery’
THE creators of Game of Thrones have sparked controversy over plans for a new TV show about slavery days after their fantasy drama was slammed for its lack of diversity.
David Benioff and Dan Weiss, both 46, faced a backlash after revealing new show Confederate will be set in an alternate reality where the South triumphed over the North in the US Civil War, giving rise to a nation where slavery is legal.
It will detail events that culminate in a third US Civil War, chronicling the lives of ‘freedom fighters, slave hunters, politicians, the executives of a slave-holding conglomerate and the families of people in their thrall’, the showrunners said.
Twitter went into meltdown. ‘The writers of a fantasy show with no black people can’t wait to write a show where the black roles are… slaves,’ wrote one poster. Others branded the project ‘disgusting’ and ‘tone deaf’.
GoT, starring Lena Heady, was criticised by Star Wars actor John Boyega, 25, this week for the lack of black actors in leading roles.
Filming on Confederate will begin after the final series of GoT.
Author: Tom Stichbury
