Game of Thrones Creators Plan Controversial New Show

The showrunners behind Game of Thrones already have their next project lined up when the eighth and final season is over. (Season seven just began.) David Benioff and DB Weiss will stick with HBO for Confederate, which has a controversial premise. The show will explore what would have happened had the South successfully seceded during the Civil War, allowing slavery to exist in modern-day America, reports Rolling Stone.

Much of the action will revolve around the Mason-Dixon Demilitarized Zone and the Third American Civil War. Immediate reaction is all over the map, with a complaint of "white nonsense" by Ira Madison III at the Daily Beast being one typical sentiment. But others are willing to give it a shot: "This is one of those ideas that could end up amazing or absolutely cringeworthy," tweets Jamelle Bouie of Slate. And, yes, there are Ed Sheeran jokes (because of this).