HBO has reportedly given a green light to the creators of Game of Thrones to produce a series about a fictional world where the Confederacy won the Civil War and slavery is still legal south of the Mason-Dixie line. The reactions to this idea have been strong, yet polarizing.

The series, currently entitled Confederate, “takes place in an alternate timeline, where the southern states have successfully seceded from the Union, giving rise to a nation where slavery remains legal and has evolved into a modern institution,” reads a press release. “The story follows a broad swath of characters on both sides of the Mason-Dixie Demilitarized Zone – freedom fighters, slave hunters, politicians, abolitionists, journalists and the executives of a slave-holding conglomerate and the families of people in their thrall.”

What in the name of a high-fever dream from hell is going on?

In the real world, politicians are finally working to remind people that the American Civil War was fought over slavery and that Confederate leaders were racists who don’t deserve to be celebrated. This is only making their sympathizers push back even harder, however. Yet there’s a chance that HBO is going to pour millions into a show that’s surely going to show black people – and who knows who else… – being subjugated to horrible lives and torture by white people.

Many fans who heard this news, especially people of color, are strongly against David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, two white men, being given the license to create a world that would make any white nationalist or “alt-right” supporter faint in a euphoric bliss.

Would it be original to see this kind of speculative fiction? Absolutely. But would it be tasteful, appropriate and worthwhile despite the horror it would surely depict? Probably not so much.

Take a look at some of Twitter’s reactions below: