Two London Law Firms Anchor HBO's New Divorce Drama 'War'

Two rival London law firms sit at the center of HBO's new series "War," a show built as an anthology — meaning each season is designed to stand on its own, with a new cast and a new case, rather than following the same characters across years. The first season, according to NPR, puts Dominic West and Sienna Miller at the center of a high-profile couple going through what the network describes as a very nasty divorce.

What Is HBO's "War" About?

"War" is structured around two dueling law firms in London, each representing one side of a legal dispute, per NPR's coverage of the series. In the debut season, that dispute is a divorce, with West and Miller playing the estranged spouses whose split drives the firms into direct conflict. The show's title signals its framing device: legal combat, firm against firm, client against client, with the marriage itself as the battlefield.

How Does the Anthology Format Work?

An anthology series tells a self-contained story each season, swapping out the central plot and often much of the cast while keeping a connecting thread — in this case, the same two law firms. That structure lets "War" return season after season with different clients and different legal fights, without requiring viewers to have followed a continuous storyline from the start. NPR describes the series as "intended" to work this way, which leaves open how many seasons HBO has actually committed to or whether future installments have been cast. Those details were not available in the available reporting.

Who Stars in Season One?

Dominic West and Sienna Miller play the couple whose divorce anchors the first season, according to NPR. The source material does not name additional cast members, the lawyers representing either side, or supporting characters, so this piece does not speculate beyond the two leads confirmed in reporting.

What Does NPR's Review Say About the Show?

NPR's headline on the piece calls "War" "a well-cast, classy-trashy divorce drama," a description that captures the tension the show appears built on: prestige legal-drama polish applied to tabloid-grade marital warfare. The phrase "classy-trashy" — NPR's own characterization — suggests a series that leans into the spectacle of a messy split while keeping the courtroom mechanics and performances closer to traditional legal drama than reality-TV excess. No numerical reviews, scores, or audience data accompanied that characterization in the available reporting, so this piece does not assign a rating or box-office-style figure to the show.

When Will Future Seasons Take On New Cases?

Because "War" is pitched as an anthology, the expectation is that later seasons would pit the same two firms against each other over different clients and different cases, refreshing the cast each time the way other anthology dramas typically do. Nothing in the available reporting specifies a premiere date for additional seasons, a renewal order, or who might star next. Until HBO or the production confirms further seasons, the safest read is that West and Miller's storyline is the only confirmed chapter of "War" that exists right now.

Why the Law-Firm Framing Matters

Setting the divorce inside two competing law firms, rather than simply following the couple, gives the show a built-in mechanism for scaling to new material each season without inventing a new premise from scratch. The firms provide continuity; the clients provide the drama. That is a common anthology trick — think of it as a container that can hold different stories — and it is the detail that most clearly signals HBO's intent for "War" to outlast its first season, even though the specifics of what comes next were not part of the reporting available at publication.

For now, what is confirmed is narrow but specific: one show, two law firms, one divorcing couple played by West and Miller, and a critic's assessment that the result reads as classy on the surface and trashy underneath. Readers looking for episode counts, premiere scheduling, or season-two casting will need to wait for HBO to say more.

Full coverage: NPR, "All's fair in love and 'War' — a well-cast, classy-trashy divorce drama"

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