Amazon reveals plans for alt history drama Black America in the wake of HBO's controversial Confederate
The drama, which has reportedly been in the works at Amazon for a year, comes from producers Will Packer and Aaron McGruder
Fresh from the controversy surrounding new HBO series Confederate, Amazon Prime Video has also announced a new drama showing an alternative history of America.
Just like the recently revealed Confederate, Amazon's new series Black America examines what might have happened if the American Civil War turned out differently – although the show's creators suggest that they will take a very different approach to the HBO drama.
Black America will explore an alternate history of America where the Southern states of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama are secured by newly-freed African Americans as reparations for slavery. The series explores how the African American nation, known as 'New Colonia', negotiates and comes into conflict with its 'big brother' the United States.
The drama, which has reportedly been in the works at Amazon for a year, comes from producers Will Packer (pictured above) and Aaron McGruder.
Game of Thrones producers D.B. Weiss and David Benioff have faced heavy criticism following the announcement of Confederate, with an executive at HBO recently revealing that he regretted the way in which the drama was announced.
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Deadline reports that it was the announcement of Confederate last month which brought out the plot details of Black America.
"I felt this was the appropriate time to make sure that audiences and the creative community knew that there was a project that preexisted and we are pretty far down the road with it,” Packer said.
He added of the initial concept: “I was immediately enthralled by the idea; I couldn’t stop thinking about it and what a provocative and bold piece of content it could be.
"It was something that was personally intriguing for me as a black American," Packer continued. "You would be hard pressed to find many black Americans who have not thought about the concept of reparation, what would happen if reparations were actually given.
"As a content creator, the fact that that is something that has been discussed thoroughly throughout various demographics of people in this country but yet never been explored to my knowledge in any real way in long-form content, I thought it was a tremendous opportunity to delve into the story, to do it right."
Noting that historians are working as consultants on the show, Packer also declined to comment on Confederate and said that it was also "too early" to discuss Black America's message as the show was still in production.
Confederate on HBO is set to explore what might have happened if the southern states had won the Civil War.
