Creators of ‘Game of Thrones’ Respond to Backlash Over Their New Show

Earlier this week, the creators of Game of Thrones announced plans for a new series titled Confederate and the response was not glowing. Now, they have fired back at their critics.

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In an interview, David Benioff candidly said, “So everything is brand new and nothing’s been written. I guess that’s what was a little bit surprising about some of the outrage. It’s just a little premature. You know, we might f— it up. But we haven’t yet.”

One of the show’s producers, Nichelle Tramble Spellman, acknowledged the public’s response, but made a case that the show should be judged for what it is and not what it might be, in a story first published by Entertainment Weekly.

Spellman said, “I do understand their concern. I wish their concern had been reserved to the night of the premiere, on HBO, on a Sunday night, when they watched and then they made a decision after they watched an hour of television as to whether or not we succeeded in what we set out to do.”

She continued, “The concern is real. But I think that the four of us are very thoughtful, very serious, and not flip about what we are getting into in any way. What I’ve done in the past, what Malcolm has done in the past, what the D.B.s have done in the past, proves that. So I would have loved an opportunity for the conversation to start once the show was on the air.”

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One of the other producers, Malcolm Spellman, chimed in as well and stated, “You cannot litigate this on Twitter. It’s not possible. I don’t know that we can change anyone’s mind… but what people have to understand is, and what we are obligated to repeat in every interview is: We’ve got black aunties. We’ve got black nephews, uncles. Black parents and black grandparents. We deal with them every single day. We deal with the struggle every single day. And people don’t have to get on board with what we’re doing based on a press release.”

Confederate instigated a wide range of very emotional responses from people after it was announced, due to the nature of its plot. It is described as following “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.”

Malcolm Spellman eventually finished his statement by saying, “But when they’re writing about us, and commenting about us, they should be mindful of the fact that there are no sell-outs involved in this show. Me and Nichelle are not props being used to protect someone else. We are people who feel a need to address issues the same way they do, and they should at least humanize the other end of those tweets and articles.”