Aaron McGruder, the creator of the hit Adult Swim animated series The Boondocks, is currently developing a new alternative-history series for Amazon titled Black America. The new show will center around an imagined present wherein the Southern states of Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama were secured by the newly freed African Americans post-Reconstruction as reparations for slavery. In the interceding decades since the American Civil War, the sovereign nation of New Colonia - which is ruled by black people - has risen up as one of the major industrialized nations, while the United States has accordingly fallen.

McGruder will co-produce Black America alongside Will Packer - who recently brought the studio comedy Girls Trip to theaters across the country. And following the announcement of the like-minded HBO drama series Confederate - which is currently at the center of intense controversy for its own alt-history premise - it will be interesting to see how things shape up behind the scenes of the forthcoming Amazon original series.

According to Deadline, Black America has been in the early stages of development for well over a year now, and was first announced as an untitled project this past February. But after HBO announced development on Confederate this past month, Packer believed that it was important to reveal his and McGruder's competing alt-history series, and said of their creative intentions:

"It was something that was personally intriguing for me as a black American. You would be hard pressed to find many black Americans who have not thought about the concept of reparation, what would happen if reparations were actually given. As a content creator, the fact that that is something that has been discussed thoroughly throughout various demographics of people in this country but yet never been explored to my knowledge in any real way in long-form content, I thought it was a tremendous opportunity to delve into the story, to do it right."

Packer was also quick to state that he and McGruder are consulting historians in order to tell their story in an "an accurate and responsible way," and assured potential viewers that the series is in "very, very active development," with McGruder "off and writing" the show's script. Whether or not Black America will manage in its attempt to "speak to where we are now and the mistakes this country has made and things we should do going forward," obviously remains to be seen.

Given the fact that Confederate is still receiving plenty of backlash, it will be interesting to see how Black America addresses some of the early problems that have plagued the former HBO production. That being said, McCruder's past work in addressing racial politics through satire on The Boondocks should serve the latter mentioned Amazon original series well. Either way, here's to hoping for the very best from McCruder and Packer.

NEXT: HBO Responds to Confederate Controversy

Screen Rant will keep you updated with any information related to Black America.

Source: Deadline