HBO's War Divides Critics Over Dominic West and Sienna Miller's Divorce Battle

HBO's newest prestige drama is a battlefield on screen and off. War, the eight-episode legal anthology that premiered October 1 on HBO and HBO Max, pits Dominic West against Sienna Miller in a billion-dollar divorce war — and the critical reaction has been almost as combative as the show's central marriage.

West stars as Morgan Henderson, a tech entrepreneur, while Miller plays Carla Duval, a movie star. Their split becomes the stuff of legal legend as two rival firms — Cathcarts & Sons and Taylor & Byrne — take up arms on either side. Created by George Kay, the writer behind Lupin and Hijack, the series promises the kind of high-stakes scheming that made HBO the home of boardroom television. The supporting cast includes James McArdle, Phoebe Fox, Archie Renaux, Pip Torrens, Nina Sosanya, and Celia Imrie.

Delicious or empty? Critics pick sides

The divide could not be starker. USA Today handed the series three out of four stars, calling it silly, addictive, juicy, and devilishly entertaining, and compared it to a mashup of Succession and Dangerous Liaisons. The Wrap, meanwhile, praised the stellar performances at the center of the show, suggesting West and Miller are doing career-level work even when the writing around them wobbles.

Not everyone is buying in. TV Guide dismissed the series as crowded and underwritten, while Collider argued that the show only works on the surface — all glossy legal maneuvering with not enough underneath. It is the classic prestige-TV split: is this a guilty pleasure elevated by its cast, or an empty calorie count dressed up in HBO branding?

The anthology structure is worth noting. As a legal anthology, War is designed to reset its case each season, which gives HBO a flexible format if the show connects with viewers. New episodes are rolling out weekly rather than dropping all at once, a scheduling choice that lets the debate about the show's quality play out in real time — exactly the kind of watercooler chatter HBO has always thrived on.

For West and Miller, the series is a showcase. West has long been one of television's most reliable leading men, and Miller gets a role with real teeth as a movie star fighting for everything she has. Whatever the final critical verdict, War has already done one thing right: it has everyone talking. And in the current television landscape, that is half the battle.