Aaron McGruder, Will Packer To Produce Alternate History Series 'Black America'
The project will be led by Aaron McGruder and Will Packer.
According to a report from Deadline, the show will be called Black America and will be an hour-long alternate history drama series for Amazon. The series is described as follows:
It envisions an alternate history where newly freed African Americans have secured the Southern states of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama post-Reconstruction as reparations for slavery, and with that land, the freedom to shape their own destiny. The sovereign nation they formed, New Colonia, has had a tumultuous and sometimes violent relationship with its looming 'Big Neighbor,' both ally and foe, the United States. The past 150 years have been witness to military incursions, assassinations, regime change, coups, etc. Today, after two decades of peace with the U.S. and unprecedented growth, an ascendant New Colonia joins the ranks of major industrialized nations on the world stage as America slides into rapid decline. Inexorably tied together, the fate of two nations, indivisible, hangs in the balance.
The project was announced back in February by Deadline but it was untitled at the time. However, following the announcement of HBO's Confederate, Packer decided to unveil the name of the series and its premise.
READ: Producers Of HBO's Civil War Drama 'Confederate' Respond To Backlash
"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," Packer said. "...Aaron and I sat together and talked about what a huge opportunity and responsibility it would be to do this project and do it right."
Packer did not offer his thoughts on Confederate but did say that "the fact that there is the contemplation of contemporary slavery makes it something that I would not be a part of producing nor consuming. Slavery is far too real and far too painful, and we still see the manifestations of it today as a country for me to ever view that as a form of entertainment."
Black America does not have a release date.
Source: deadline.com