HBO's anthology drama 'War' opens with a bitter celebrity divorce

HBO has premiered "War," a new anthology drama built around the collisions of two rival London law firms. Rather than following a single continuing case, the series is structured so that each season can take on a new legal battle with a new set of characters, a format that gives the show room to pivot between genres while keeping its central premise of professional and personal rivalry intact.

The first season uses that structure to tell a messy, high-profile divorce story. Dominic West and Sienna Miller play a couple whose marriage is unraveling in public, with each side retaining lawyers from the two competing firms at the heart of the show. The season leans into the spectacle of a wealthy, prominent couple airing their grievances through legal proceedings, with the courtroom and negotiating-table scenes doubling as a showcase for both lead performances.

A format built for reinvention

Anthology series have become a familiar tool for prestige television, letting producers reset a show's cast and tone each season while retaining a recognizable premise or setting. By anchoring "War" to a pair of dueling law firms rather than to specific characters, HBO leaves itself room to revisit the concept with different stories and casts in future seasons, assuming the first run finds an audience.

For now, the show's reception centers on how its first season blends two familiar genres: the glossy, high-stakes legal drama and the tabloid-ready celebrity divorce story. The pairing of West and Sienna Miller, both known for prior high-profile television and film roles, has been a focal point of early coverage of the series, alongside the broader question of whether the anthology format will hold up as the show continues.