The lack of diversity on Game Of Thrones has always been an issue, but it's come back into public discussion after the creators announced that they were coming out with a new show, Confederate. The upcoming series, which takes place in a dystopian future where modern slavery still exists, explores a topic that the creators have shown us time and time again that they've struggled with: race. People are naturally apprehensive of the show, and the showrunners' response to the backlash hasn't instilled much confidence, nor has how they're using the show to justify the lack of diversity on Game Of Thrones.
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"We were very hyper aware of the difference between a show with a fictional history and a fictional world, and a show that’s an alternate history of this world," D.B. Weiss told Vulture in an interview. "We know that the elements in play in a show like Confederate are much more raw, much more real, and people come into them much more sensitive and more invested, than they do with a story about a place called Westeros, which none of them had ever heard of before they read the books or watched the show. We know they are different things, and they need to be dealt with in very, very different ways. And we plan, all of us I think, to approach Confederate in a much different spirit, by necessity, than we would approach a show named Game of Thrones."
So the excuse here is basically: Game Of Thrones was made up, so they didn't feel the need to be as representative. Which, if you think about it, makes even less sense. It's a made up world! You don't have to adhere to any facts or history. You can literally do whatever you want, and the creators still chose a primarily while cast.
How many more fictional — and IRL — slip-ups will these creators be allowed to get away with?