War (stylised in all caps) is a legal drama anthology television series created by George Kay. The show premiered on October 1, 2026, on HBO in the United States and on the following night on Sky Atlantic in the United Kingdom.
Contents
Premise
The first season is about two prestigious law firms in London, "Cathcarts" and "Taylor & Byrne," as they face off in a scandalous divorce case between a tech entrepreneur and his film star wife.
The second season follows the two rival law firms as they take on an explosive defamation case.
Cast and characters
Series 1
Dominic West as Morgan Henderson, a high-profile tech mogul and Carla's husband
Sienna Miller as Carla Duval, a famous international film star and Morgan's wife
Phoebe Fox as Serena Byrne, law partner at Taylor & Byrne and Nicholas' wife
James McArdle as Nicholas Taylor, law partner at Taylor & Byrne and Serena's husband
Nina Sosanya as Beatrice "Queen Bea" Ubosi, law partner at Cathcarts
Pip Torrens as St. John Smallwood, law partner at Cathcarts
Archie Renaux as Jonathan "Johnny" Warren, an ambitious young lawyer from Peckham
Emma Laird as Molly Giordano, training associate at Taylor & Byrne and Saeed's best friend
Nick Mohammed as Michael Stefano, staffer at Taylor & Byrne
Celia Imrie as Joy "Budgie" Budge, barrister at Taylor & Byrne
Shaheen Jafargholi as Saeed Masood, training associate at Taylor & Byrne and Molly's best friend
Akiya Henry as Nora Okafo
Honor Swinton Byrne as Bella Croft, a public relations executive and Johnny's much wealthier girlfriend
Miles Jupp as David Schill, senior partner at Cathcarts
Kartanya Maynard as Suzie Levitniik
Series 2
Marisa Tomei as Avery Reed
Kelly Macdonald as Jo MacNeil
David Harewood as Jefferson Allen
Richard Schiff as Elliott Wyatt
Claire Skinner
Omari Douglas
Kadiff Kirwan
Douglas Booth
Charles Edwards
Luca Pasqualino
Rebecca Front
Alexandra Maria Lara
Linus Roache
Violet Braeckman
Sasha Behar
Sid Phoenix
Cornelius Booth
Megan Channell
Production
Development
Sky UK and co-producer HBO ordered two seasons of the series in an anthology format. George Kay is the show's creator and showrunner with Ben Taylor as director. The series is produced by New Pictures and Observatory Pictures. Executive producers include Kay, Taylor, Willow Grylls, Matt Sandford, Susan Breen, Andrea Dewsbury and Megan Spanjian. Alongside Kay, the writers of the series include Kelly Jones, Jess Brittain, Catherine Shepherd, Yemi Oyefuwa and Krissie Ducker.
Casting
The cast of the first series is led by Dominic West and Sienna Miller with Phoebe Fox, James McArdle, Pip Torrens, Nina Sosanya and Archie Renaux. Nick Mohammed, Celia Imrie, Shaheen Jafargholi, Akiya Henry, Honor Swinton Byrne, Miles Jupp, Kartanya Maynard, Alexandra Mardell, Mark Quartley and Steve Furst have series regular roles, while Rose Williams, Camille Coduri, Mumsy Monroe and Aran Murphy joined the cast in guest roles for series one. In November 2025, it was announced that Emma Laird joined the cast for series one.
The cast of the second series is led by Marisa Tomei, Kelly Macdonald, David Harewood and Richard Schiff, with Claire Skinner, Omari Douglas, Kadiff Kirwan, Douglas Booth, Charles Edwards, Luca Pasqualino, Rebecca Front, Alexandra Maria Lara, Linus Roache, Violet Braeckman, Sasha Behar, Sid Phoenix, Cornelius Booth and Megan Channell.
Filming
Principal photography began in September 2025, with filming taking place at the OMA X Film Studios, in Enfield, London. In May 2026, it was announced that the filming of the first series had been wrapped in February and the second series would go into production.
Release
The series premiered on 1 October 2026 on HBO and 2 October 2026 on Sky Atlantic.
Reception
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the series holds an approval rating of 87%, based on 39 reviews, with an average of rated reviews of 7.3/10. Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned a score of 74 out of 100 based on 26 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.
