David Benioff and DB Weiss, the creators of HBO’s Game of Thrones, are bringing a new series to the network that will offer an alternative take on the American civil war.

Confederate, depicting the events leading up to a third conflict between the north and south, will be written by the showrunners and take place in an alternative timeline in which the southern states have successfully seceded, “giving rise to a nation in which slavery remains legal and has evolved into a modern institution”.

A statement released by HBO read: “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.”

Production on the new series will begin after the final season of Game of Thrones. The first installment of the seventh season premiered Sunday night, drawing a record-breaking 16.1 million viewers (including streaming), a 50% increase from the season six premiere. The episode was the most-watched season premiere of any HBO series to date.

“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,” said Casey Bloys, the president of programming at the network.

The news comes just a few months after HBO announced that several Game of Thrones spin-off series are in the works, although neither Benioff nor Weiss will be working on them.

“We have discussed Confederate for years, originally as a concept for a feature film,” said Benioff and Weiss in a statement. “But 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 than [co-writers and co-executive producers] Nichelle and Malcolm [Spellman], who have impressed us for a long time with their wit, their imagination and their Scrabble-playing skills.”

The HBO drama series Westworld recently led the pack with 22 Emmy award nominations. Game of Thrones won the award for outstanding drama series in 2016 and broke the record for Emmy nominations in 2015 with 24.