Misha Green shares details of ‘Lovecraft Country: Supremacy,’ #noconfederate hashtag after HBO pulls plug on series
The series' showrunner revived a hashtag that protested HBO's plans for 'Confederate' in 2017
When HBO announced that it would not be bringing Lovecraft Country back for a second season, fans of the series, created by Misha Green, were shocked to say the least.
“We will not be moving forward with a second season of Lovecraft Country,” HBO said in a statement to Deadline on July 2. “We are grateful for the dedication and artistry of the gifted cast and crew, and to Misha Green, who crafted this groundbreaking series. And to the fans, thank you for joining us on this journey.”
Considering the critically-acclaimed hit was a wild success for the network and is likely to nab some Emmy noms next week, fans were crushed by the news and vented their frustrations on social media.
Jordan Peele‘s Monkeypaw Productions and J.J. Abrams‘ Bad Robot produced season one of the series along with Warner Bros., but so far, neither have made public statements about the cancellation.
The day after the network announced it would not move forward with a second season of the series that stars Jonathan Majors, Jurnee Smollett, Courtney B. Vance, Aunjanue Ellis, Wunmi Mosaku, and Michael K. Williams, the show’s creator took to social media to drop some facts that make us think there may be more to the story.
“A taste of the Season 2 Bible. Wish we could have brought you #LovecraftCountry: Supremacy. Thank you to everyone who watched and engaged,” she posted along with a re-imagined map of the U.S. renamed ‘Sovereign States of America’ and the hashtag #noconfederate.
It turns out Green and her team had already planned out a direction for the next season of the show that would have been titled Lovecraft Country: Supremacy and her tweets suggest they were planning to kick things up a notch.
The first season was based on the 2016 novel by Matt Ruff and in the ill-fated follow up, Green created a new nation that includes Jefferson Commonwealth, New Negro Republic, Whitelands, and Tribal Nations of the West.
“The Whitelands is completely overrun by zombies— most of them of the slower variety, but with pockets of fast-moving zombies too. One price of “The Origin” spell was the creation of a zombie population. Years into the epidemic, a joint effort was undertaken to corral the zombies into one location in the center of America. The Whitelands now function as a dangerous border between the South, West, and Northern Territories. X marks the spot where “The Source” will appear,” she shared in another screenshot from along with the caption, “*whispers* Just to clarify.”
While the plot pIans Green revealed are quite intriguing, what’s even more interesting is her choice to include the #noconfederate hashtag, which trended on social media after HBO announced plans for a different series, Confederate.
That sci-fi/drama was going to be helmed by Game of Thrones executive producers, David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, who intended to reimagine the outcome of the Civil War, depicting a world where the South seceded and slavery continued to evolve into modern times. The #noconfederate hashtag was used by social media users protesting the network’s decision to proceed with the series that was eventually scrapped.
Could her use of the hashtag be intended to remind us that fans have the power to protest the decision? Or perhaps she was pointing out the fact that HBO had plans to put out a show with such an abominable premise, helmed by two white men?
Of course, we can’t know for sure, but it’s hard to understand what went in to HBO’s decision to pull the plug on one of its most impactful and highly-praised projects of the year.
When contacted by theGrio, HBO declined to comment further on their decision and had no comment on Greene’s tweets or her use of the #noconfederate hashtag.
Have you subscribed to theGrio’s new podcast “Dear Culture”? Download our newest episodes now!
TheGrio is now on Apple TV, Amazon Fire, and Roku. Download theGrio today!
