Game Of Thrones Creators Announce Their New HBO Show

Game of Thrones still has another season to go after the current one, but showrunners David Benioff and DB Weiss have announced their next show. The pair will return to HBO for Confederate, a dramatic imagining of an alternate future America that sounds every bit as provocative as their fantasy hit.

Benioff and Weiss will begin production on Confederate once work on the final season of Game of Thrones is completed. HBO have released a synopsis for the new show, which reads: "Confederate chronicles the events leading to the Third American Civil War. The series takes place in an alternate timeline, where the southern states have successfully seceded from the Union, giving rise to a nation in which slavery remains legal and has evolved into a modern institution.

"The story follows a broad swath of characters on both sides of the Mason-Dixon Demilitarized Zone--freedom fighters, slave hunters, politicians, abolitionists, journalists, the executives of a slave-holding conglomerate and the families of people in their thrall."

In a statement, Benioff and Weiss explained that the concept for Confederate had existed for some time, and was originally considered for a movie. "We have discussed Confederate for years, originally as a concept for a feature film," they said. “But our experience on Thrones has convinced us that no one provides a bigger, better storytelling canvas than HBO. There won't be dragons or White Walkers in this series, but we are creating a world."

Benioff and Weiss will serve as writers and showrunners on Confederate. It currently has no premiere date, but with Season 8 of Game of Thrones yet to even start production, don't expect it for at least a couple of years. There are also several Game of Thrones spinoffs in the works, but Benioff and Weiss will not be heavily involved in these.