New TV series Confederate was announced last week to widespread backlash, as press and the public reacted to the idea of a drama based on an alt-history world in which slavery had remained legal and evolved into a modern institution.
It's the brainchild of David Benioff and DB Weiss, the showrunners behind Game of Thrones, and HBO's head of programming Casey Bloys has had to come to the defence of the project and its creators.
"We assumed it'd be controversial," Bloys said (via THR). "I think we could have done a better job with the press rollout.
"What we realised in retrospect is people don't have the benefit of having the context of the conversations with the producers that we had."
He went on to say: "If you can draw a line between what we're seeing in the country today with voter suppression, mass incarceration, lack of access to public education and healthcare, and draw the line to our past and shared history, that's an important line to draw and a conversation worth having.
"[The producers] acknowledge this has a high degree of difficulty. It's a risk worth taking."
What to Read Next
And HBO has faith in its (as-yet unconfirmed) actors and producers to pull of the tricky feat.
"The bet for us is on our talent – that they're going to be the difference," Bloys added. "We're going to stand behind them. The hope is that [viewers] judge the actual material versus what it might be.
"We will rise or fall based on quality of the material."
Want up-to-the-minute entertainment news and features? Just hit 'Like' on our Digital Spy Facebook page and 'Follow' on our @digitalspy Twitter account and you're all set.
