HBO Teams with Sky to Create Law Series 'War' Starring Sienna Miller

After a decade of multiple new owners, an ill-advised merger, and now an eventual unmerger (if a different, larger, also ill-advised merger doesn't happen first), HBO is getting back to doing what it has always done best. When it was a premium cable channel, HBO defined itself by reworking tried-and-true TV show tropes with a more refined eye. Series like Fraggle Rock, Deadwood, The Wire, and The Sopranos were merely loftier versions of children's television, westerns, police procedurals, and family dramas. HBO is returning to that model with The Pitt, a medical drama run through HBO's sensibilities, its biggest hit in years. 

What HBO is missing from this lineup is a courtroom procedural in the style of Suits. No surprise then that the network announced today it would team up with British co-producer Sky (with whom it made Chernobyl) for a new courtroom-based drama series, War. A series set in London's cutthroat world of white-shoe firms, the new show has a touch of the late-blooming hit Industry to it, but with a twist: War is planned as an anthology series, with the first two seasons officially greenlit.

HBO's swing here is a big one. As we've noted before, Americans don't seem particularly engaged by contemporary British courtroom dramas; Law & Order: U.K. flopped, as did Silks. (Something about the artifice of the dress code and the wigs seems to act as a barrier.) Perhaps that's why HBO opted for an anthology series, allowing it to turn over the cast at will. It also means they can land high-end actors to headline, such as film star Sienna Miller, whose successful turn in Netflix's Anatomy of a Scandal heralded her move to the small screen. She'll co-star with Dominic West, who returns to HBO nearly 30 years after he last starred in The Wire.

Here's the series' current logline:

Set in the elite world of London law, War debuts with a scandalous divorce case that sends shockwaves through boardrooms, bedrooms, and courtrooms alike. The series follows two of London’s most prestigious rival firms – Cathcarts and Taylor & Byrne – as they go head-to-head in the divorce case of the century. Each side is certain they’ll win. But as the case spirals and loyalties fracture, reputations are on the line, and everyone’s playing to win. 

This is just the beginning - Season 1’s explosive case is the first in an anthology of headline-making legal battles.

West and Miller headline the series as tech titan Morgan Henderson and his estranged wife, international film star Carla Duval, the subjects of the divorce proceedings. However, those roles suggest they are Season 1's main guest stars and will probably not return for Season 2. 

In those who are much more likely to reappear in further seasons, the show will also star Phoebe Fox (The Great) as Serena Byrne and James McArdle (Playing Nice) as Nicholas Taylor, partners in life and business at Taylor & Byrne; plus Nina Sosanya (Good Omens) as “Her Majesty” Beatrice “Queen Bea” Ubosi, and Pip Torrens (Poldark) as St John Smallwood, their counterparts and fierce rivals at Cathcarts. Archie Renaux (The Jetty) rounds out the cast as ambitious lawyer Jonathan “Johnny” Warren.

The series is created and written by George Kay (Hijack), with Ben Taylor (Sex Education) directing all installments. Kay and Taylor also executive produce alongside Willow Grylls & Matt Sandford for New Pictures, and Susan Breen, Andrea Dewsbury & Megan Spanjian for Sky.

War is expected to debut on HBO and Sky sometime in late 2026.