Beverly Hills, Calif. — HBO programming president Casey Bloys was on the hot seat Wednesday at the network's TCA summer press tour session as TV critics peppered the executive with questions about the network’s controversial new series Confederate.
Complete coverage of the 2017 TCA Summer Press Tour.
The series, which will be produced by Game of Thrones showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss and will depict what the nation would look like if the South had won the Civil War, drew initial backlash when ammounced, from critics concerned about how the issue of race, and slavery in particular, would be portrayed.
Related: HBO Greenlights ‘Confederate’ From ‘Game of Thrones’ Producers
Bloys said the network’s decision to announce the show via a press release without any context from the producers was “misguided” and should have been handled differently.
“If I had to do it over again I would have let the producers sit and talk about it,” Bloys said. “The key to all of this is the context and hearing from the creators. All we can do is ask people to judge the final product rather than what it could be or might be.”
MCN Flashback > TCA16: HBO's Casey Bloys Takes Heat During TCA Session
Bloys also said the long anticipated revival of Western-themed series Deadwood is coming closer to fruition, adding that he’s excited about the new script for the David Milch series, which ran on HBO from 2004-2008. “If we can do it for a budget that makes sense and we can get the cast together then we’re inclined to do it," Bloys said.
He also said the network is close to greenlighting a third season of its anthology series True Detective, which will feature Moonlight actor Mahershala Ali. “I’m very impressed and excited about what I’ve read,” Bloys said of the script for True Detective.
Bloys also addressed the Game Of Thrones spinoffs, saying that none of the characters in the current Game Of Thrones series will appear in any of the series followups.
