HBO and Game of Thrones creators/showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss are teaming once again for a new series called Confederate.
The forthcoming drama series imagines an alternate outcome for the American Civil War, where the South has successfully seceded from the Union giving rise to a nation in which slavery remains legal and has evolved into a modern institution, according to a statement.
The series details the events that culminate in the Third American Civil War and will feature characters from opposing sides of a Mason-Dixon Demilitarized Zone, including freedom fighters, slave hunters, politicians, abolitionists and journalists.
Written, created and executive produced by Benioff and Weiss, they will also serve as Confederates showrunners. The series writing team includes executive producers Nichelle Tramble Spellman (The Good Wife) and Malcolm Spellman (Empire).
We have discussed Confederate for years, originally as a concept for a feature film, Benioff and Weiss said in a statement. But our experience on Thrones has convinced us that no one provides a bigger, better storytelling canvas than HBO. There wont be dragons or White Walkers in this series, but we are creating a world, and we couldnt imagine better partners in world-building than Nichelle and Malcolm, who have impressed us for a long time with their wit, their imagination and their Scrabble-playing skills.
Production for Confederate will begin following the eighth and final season of Game of Thrones, which is expected to debut in 2018 or early 2019. The seventh and penultimate season premiered last Sunday. The episode featured Ed Sheeran singing the unofficially titled Hands of Gold.