--- title: "War" year: 2026 kind: "series" canonical: "https://film.one/tv/war" fi1m_id: "war" imdb_id: "tt37972251" tmdb_id: 298852 wikidata_id: "Q136436438" fi1m_score: 74 critics_score: 74 critics_reviews: 8 published: "2026-10-02" updated: "2026-10-12T06:00:57.069380+00:00" region: "ZA" licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # War (2026) Created by George Kay · Drama ## Identity War - **Canonical:** https://film.one/tv/war - **Type:** Series - **Fi1m ID:** war - **IMDb ID:** tt37972251 - **TMDB ID:** 298852 - **Wikidata ID:** Q136436438 - **Same entity:** https://www.imdb.com/title/tt37972251/, https://www.themoviedb.org/tv/298852, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q136436438 **Fi1m score: 74** · Critics 74 from 8 reviews *In a sentence:* The marriage is over in episode one; the fun is watching eight episodes of expensive people deciding who gets the furniture > George Kay’s eight-part legal drama about a high-profile divorce is quick, well cast and mean in the enjoyable way. Dominic West and Sienna Miller are worth the evening. It does not need all eight hours, and it knows it around episode five. ## Synopsis A marriage is ending, and the people paid to end it are the ones we follow. Morgan Henderson (Dominic West) and Carla Duval (Sienna Miller) find themselves on opposite sides of a divorce that is being fought in public as much as in a courtroom, with money, houses and reputations on the table. Around them are Serena Byrne (Phoebe Fox), Nicholas Taylor (James McArdle) and Jonathan ‘Johnny’ Warren (Archie Renaux), each with a stake in how the fight goes, and Beatrice Ubosi (Nina Sosanya), known to everyone as Queen Bea. St John Smallwood (Pip Torrens), Budgie (Celia Imrie) and Michael Stefanou (Nick Mohammed) fill out the rooms where the deals are struck. The first episodes set out who wants what from the settlement, and how far each of them will go to get it. ## Review George Kay has built *War* around a simple idea: a divorce between very rich people is not a legal process but a campaign, and the lawyers are the generals. Morgan Henderson (Dominic West) and Carla Duval (Sienna Miller) end up on opposite sides of a marriage coming apart in public, and the series follows the fight over eight episodes. That is the whole engine. It is a good one, and for most of its length Kay keeps it turning. We should say plainly that we enjoyed it. It is a series about people being cruel to one another in good tailoring, and we found ourselves leaning forward in the scenes where a settlement figure is said out loud and nobody blinks. Kay’s dialogue is quick and unfussy. People say what they want and then lie about why, and the series trusts us to notice the gap without pointing at it. West plays Henderson with the confidence of a man who has never lost an argument he cared about, and the pleasure is watching that confidence get tested. He is loud when it suits him and quiet when it suits him more. Miller does something harder. Duval is the one who has to be underestimated, by the other characters and by us, and Miller lets the underestimation happen for a long time before she does anything about it. When she finally does, in a scene we will not describe, we were more shaken than a series this glossy has any right to make us. It is a small moment, a look held a beat too long across a table, and it lands because Miller has spent four episodes not asking for our attention. The supporting cast is a list of people who make British television better by turning up. Nina Sosanya’s Beatrice Ubosi, called Queen Bea by everyone in earshot, is the one at every table who has already worked out what the others are going to say before they say it. Pip Torrens, as St John Smallwood, does his usual trick of making a man seem both harmless and dangerous in the same sentence. Celia Imrie’s Budgie is given less to do than we wanted, and every scene she is in is better for her. Nick Mohammed, as Michael Stefanou, is the one character who seems to find the whole business faintly ridiculous, and the series is wise enough to keep him around as a corrective. Phoebe Fox, James McArdle and Archie Renaux carry the younger strand, and Fox in particular gives Serena Byrne a hardness the writing does not always ask for. Ben Taylor directs, and he keeps the rooms bright and the pace brisk. There is not much lingering. Scenes end when the point is made, which is rarer than it should be in an eight-episode drama, and the cutting between the two camps is clean enough that we always knew who had the upper hand that week. The flaw is the length. Eight episodes is a long time to spend on one divorce, however rich the parties, and around the midpoint the series starts inventing complications to keep the fight going. Some of these are good. Some of them are there because the episode had to be an hour. We were bored for a stretch of episode five, and then slightly annoyed, because the writing in episodes one to four had been too sharp to need padding. Kay recovers, and the final run gets its nerve back, but the sag is real and a reader with limited evenings should know about it. There is also a question the series never quite answers, which is whether it likes these people. It laughs at them. It admires their clothes and their houses. It is not sure whether we are meant to want any of them to win, and by the end we were not sure either. That may be deliberate. It also makes the last episodes cooler than they should be. If legal drama is your genre, and you enjoy watching clever people be horrible for money, this is a good week’s viewing. Watch it two episodes at a time, and skip nothing in the first four. *Fi1m score 74, published 2 October 2026.* ## What the critics say Most critics have a good time with War. Six of the seven reviews are positive, and the praise clusters in two places: the plotting, which is described as intricate, fast-moving and full of precisely paced twists, with George Kay’s storytelling singled out; and the performances, above all Dominic West and Sienna Miller as a couple whose affection survives a vicious divorce. Several reviews call it froth and mean it as a compliment: a palate-cleanser, stylish and addictively entertaining. The reservations are about depth. The AV Club finds the central relationship underdeveloped, The Hollywood Reporter says the series falters when it reaches for deeper sentiment, and Vulture thinks it grows silly and moralising, with the character of Johnny a hard man to spend time with. The spread is wide for a consensus this warm. IndieWire’s Ben Travers is the lone dissenter, finding the series dull and its legal battle uninvolving, though even he credits West’s earnest performance. ## Straight answers **Is War worth watching?** *War* is worth watching for anyone who enjoys legal drama and clever people being horrible for money, and we scored it 74. Dominic West and Sienna Miller carry eight episodes that only needed about six, so expect a sag around the midpoint before the final run recovers its nerve. Watch two at a time and skip nothing in the first four. **Where can I watch War in South Africa?** *War* is not on any streaming or rental service in South Africa at the moment. Availability is checked daily. **How violent or frightening is War, and is it suitable for children?** *War* is not violent or frightening; it is an adult drama about a rich divorce, and the cruelty is spoken rather than shown. It carries no UK certificate and a US TV-MA rating, which means language and themes aimed at grown-ups. Children would not be harmed by it so much as bored, since the whole thing is people arguing over money and houses. **How does War compare to Kramer vs. Kramer?** *War* and [*Kramer vs. Kramer*](https://film.one/film/kramer-vs-kramer) are both about a marriage ending, but they could hardly be less alike in tone. *War* is glossy, quick and mean in an enjoyable way, more interested in the lawyers than the couple; *Kramer vs. Kramer* is a close, plain custody fight where every line hurts. The earlier film is the deeper and more moving of the two; *War* is the one to choose if you want to be entertained rather than wrung out. **What should I watch after War?** After *War*, try [*Kramer vs. Kramer*](https://film.one/film/kramer-vs-kramer) (1979, Fi1m 82): A custody fight where nobody is wearing a good suit and every line hurts. Then [*A Separation*](https://film.one/film/a-separation) (2011, Fi1m 93): An Iranian marriage comes apart in courtrooms and kitchens; patient, fair and devastating; and [*Marriage Story*](https://film.one/film/marriage-story) (2019, Fi1m 84): The lawyers are the villains here too, and Laura Dern enjoys every second of it. ### Reviews we read (8) - **The Guardian**, Lucy Mangan (95/100, inferred): Mangan calls the series massive fun and an ideal palate-cleanser. She particularly praises its intricate, fast-moving legal plotting and strong performances. [Read](https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2026/oct/02/war-review-george-kay-sienna-miller-dominic-west) - **Variety**, Aramide Tinubu (85/100, inferred): Tinubu finds the series thoroughly captivating, with tension and twists that build into an intricate legal drama. She particularly praises Dominic West and Sienna Miller’s convincing portrayals of a couple whose affection persists beneath their bitter divorce. [Read](https://variety.com/2026/tv/reviews/war-review-hbo-dominic-west-1236894071/) - **The AV Club**, Saloni Gajjar (B+): Gajjar finds the series a frothy, stylish legal drama with plenty of thrills, though it has room to grow. She praises the lawyers’ tangled schemes and the sleek visuals, while faulting the central couple’s underdeveloped relationship. [Read](https://www.avclub.com/war-review-hbo-dominic-west-sienna-miller) - **Radio Times**, Gareth McLean (80/100, inferred): McLean presents the series as a dazzling, thoroughly entertaining legal drama. The high-profile divorce battle is singled out as its central draw. [Read](https://www.radiotimes.com/tv/drama/war-review-sky-dominic-west-sienna-miller/) - **The Hollywood Reporter**, Angie Han (80/100, inferred): Han finds the series an addictively entertaining legal drama, though it falters when reaching for deeper sentiment. She praises George Kay’s deft storytelling and the precisely paced twists and turns. [Read](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-reviews/war-review-dominic-west-sienna-miller-george-kay-hbo-1236713678/) - **Vulture**, Jackson McHenry (70/100, inferred): McHenry finds the series familiar but entertaining, praising its brisk plotting and strong ensemble. He criticizes Johnny as insufferable and poorly conveyed, and says the drama grows silly and moralizing. [Read](https://www.vulture.com/article/war-hbo-review.html) - **IndieWire**, Ben Travers (D+): Travers finds the series dull, meaningless, and unable to make its legal battle or characters compelling. He praises Dominic West’s earnest performance, but says the character’s clichéd flaws undermine it. [Read](https://www.indiewire.com/criticism/shows/war-review-hbo-divorce-drama-sienna-miller-dominic-west-1235218766/) - **Collider**, Victoria Luxford (5/10): The critic finds the series entertaining but emotionally vacant and ultimately shallow. She praises the leads and sharp dialogue, while faulting the show for failing to develop its characters or say much about its subject. [Read](https://collider.com/war-hbo-review-dominic-west-sienna-miller/) ## Details - **Created by:** George Kay - **Creator:** George Kay - **Director:** Ben Taylor - **Cast:** Dominic West as Morgan Henderson; Sienna Miller as Carla Duval; Phoebe Fox as Serena Byrne; James McArdle as Nicholas Taylor; Nina Sosanya as 'Her Majesty' Beatrice 'Queen Bea' Ubosi; Pip Torrens as St John Smallwood; Archie Renaux as Jonathan 'Johnny' Warren; Celia Imrie as Budgie - **Release (South Africa):** 1 October 2026 - **Genres:** Drama - **Production:** New Pictures, Observatory Pictures, Sky, HBO - **Trailer:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3pJGKhUxuNM ## Where to watch in South Africa Not streaming, renting or buying in South Africa at the last check. ## If you liked this - *The Split* (2018): Divorce lawyers in London, families on both sides of the desk; the obvious next stop. - *Kramer vs. Kramer* (1979), Fi1m 82: A custody fight where nobody is wearing a good suit and every line hurts. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/kramer-vs-kramer.md) - *A Separation* (2011), Fi1m 93: An Iranian marriage comes apart in courtrooms and kitchens; patient, fair and devastating. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/a-separation.md) - *Scenes from a Marriage* (1973): Bergman spends six hours on two people and needs every minute of it. - *Marriage Story* (2019), Fi1m 84: The lawyers are the villains here too, and Laura Dern enjoys every second of it. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/marriage-story.md) --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/tv/war