Though there are up to four potential Game of Thrones spinoffs/prequels being written, the series' showrunners Dan Weiss and David Benioff have already decided that when the fantasy juggernaut ends, so too will their watch. However, a new release from HBO has now revealed their next project (which will also be with the premium network). Confederate will take place in an alternate reality where the South won the (first of two, with another impending) Civil War, creating a new nation where slavery is legal and where it has become a modern institution. "The story follows a broad swath of characters on both sides of the Mason-Dixon Demilitarized Zone – freedom fighters, slave hunters, politicians, abolitionists, journalists, the executives of a slave-holding conglomerate and the families of people in their thrall."

It sounds a little bit like Man in the High Castle, and HBO believes enough in the project and the showrunners to give the show a straight-to-series order. Though the two reveal that they initially had conceived of Confederate as a feature film, saying "our experience on Thrones has convinced us that no one provides a bigger, better storytelling canvas than HBO. There won’t be dragons or White Walkers in this series, but we are creating a world, and we couldn’t imagine better partners in world-building "

The pair will write the series, like they have done (with mixed results) with much of Thrones, and will be joined by executive producers Nichelle Tramble Spellman (Justified), Malcolm Spellman (Empire), and Game of Thrones EPs Carolyn Strauss and Bernadette Caulfield.

HBO programming president Casey Bloys added that, "As the brilliant Game of Thrones winds down to its final season, we are thrilled to be able to continue our relationship with Dan and David, knowing that any subject they take on will result in a unique and ambitious series." Confederate is set to start production as soon as Game of Thrones' eighth and final season wraps.

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Image via HBO