Similar to Watchmen, which also only aired for a season on HBO, the series garnered attention and viewership for successfully incorporating fantasy with real-life horrors of the African American experience. For every hyperbolic scene, there was the attempted balance of truth to reflect the state of American society. And while the series did incorporate many elements of horror, it was never used for sake of shock value, as opposed to the series Them. Nominations for the series include both Oustanding lead actress and actor, for Journee Smollet and Jonathan Majors, and for Outstanding drama series. Critical reception aside perhaps the network did not have faith in a successful second season with no source material to adapt, in comparison to its first season. However, with the strings woven throughout season 1, Greene was more than ready to continue her vision and push the narrative forward as she tweeted out a photo of the setting for the potential second season.
Bold as it may have been something tells me the executives weren’t too keen on “new negro” land. This may be retaliation for Confederate not getting greenlit after immediate backlash. But I say if Freeform can give a nonracist, feminist revision of history in the form of the series Motherland, then I’m sure Green could have accomplished the same with a second season. Oddly enough in her acknowledgment of Lovecraft's cancellation, Greene ended a tweet with #noconfederate. Although HBO has chosen not to renew the series, that’s not stopping Green’s momentum as she has signed a new deal to develop content for Apple TV. In the meantime, Green is continuing to tease fans of what could have been tweeting planned outlines for season 2 as we all anticipate the next chapter in her brilliance.
