Entertainment

‘War’ Series-Premiere Recap: ‘It’s Done’

In her study of literary Victorian marriages, Parallel Lives, the critic Phyllis Rose wrote that compared with the permanently binding Victorian marriage contract, “our easy recourse to divorce seems –– to adopt Robert Frost’s image –– like playing tennis without the net.” If access to divorce has removed the net from our tennis game, for the one percent, the proceedings have turned into Sincaraz-level volleys. Forget Kramer vs. Kramer’s quiet, introspective disappointment; forget Noah Baumbach’s caustic depictions of how divorce brings out the worst in people. In the first episode of HBO’s divorce legal drama War, the word love doesn’t come up once. This divorce story is not about sadness, disappointment, personal limitations, or heartbreak. Stock words like secret and betrayal only come up at the episode’s end, in the one moment we see Carla Duval (Sienna Miller) and Morgan Henderson (Dominic West) share a frame; and even then, they are said with spite. War is not about the breaking down of a marriage — it’s about lawyers.
The pilot tells us, in no uncertain terms, that Morgan and Carla are beside the point. They are symbols: He is the philandering tech mogul with endless resources and a world of privilege on his side; she is the Hollywood star armed with the favor of public opinion and her own unharnessed fury. The real interest is in seeing how their lawyers will manipulate these symbols, whether they’re playing offense or defense. The lawyers, being protagonists, come with their own baggage. Nick Taylor (James McArdle) prepared the Hendersons’ prenuptial agreement when they first got married a decade ago. His pregnant wife and partner, Serena Byrne (Phoebe Fox), used to work for Cathcarts & Sons, a.k.a. the firm Morgan keeps on retainer and activates once he learns, from the front page of a tabloid, that Carla met with Nick and Serena; a.k.a., the enemy.
But I’m getting ahead of myself. Before we get into the weeds, let’s lay out some basics about this doomed couple. In London, Morgan is accepting a Pioneer of the Year award for his services as an “entrepreneur and philanthropist.” Carla is suffering through a press junket for a new spy movie titled The Milliner with her obnoxious co-star, Jeremy (Aaron Tsindos). Having heard yet another rumor that her husband is running around on her, Carla devises a scheme to honey-trap Morgan with the help of her friend, the actress Flora Monroe (Rose Williams), who charms him at the reception for the Pioneer of the Year award. Morgan pretends to resist at first — “I don’t do this,” he says, unconvincingly — but invites Flora into his hotel room anyway. After he falls asleep, Flora snaps a picture of the two of them and sends it to Carla. That’s just in the first five minutes of the episode.
For the purposes of the war at hand, the photo is, basically, the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand. Serena and Nick advise Carla not to go through with the honey trap, but they’re too late. Nick and Serena’s partnership, both professional and personal, is healthier than the Hendersons’, which immediately raises red flags: Will their marriage survive this case? Can they persevere as a team? They lead with opposite attitudes. He is the scrupulous one — disapproving of Carla’s unsavory methods, he considers dropping her as a client. Serena, meanwhile, is more gung ho. “We’re lawyers,” she retorts when Nick says they need the moral high ground. “We need no such thing.” She wants the big case and the big money that comes with it.
Nick and Serena’s plan is to break the prenup and serve Morgan with a divorce. The goal is to take Morgan “for every fucking penny he’s got.” Before getting married, the couple signed a “drop-hands prenup,” which Nick explains means they would each walk away with whatever they brought into the union. But back then, Carla was worth significantly more than Morgan; now, the inverse is true. As for Flora’s picture, Nick and Serena’s barrister, Budgie (Celia Imrie), thinks up a way to use it to their advantage. The photo — which shall be deleted, then resent so Nick and Serena can create a paper trail establishing their condemnation of Carla’s idea — will not only prove that Morgan “was lying about his infidelities, but he was gaslighting [Carla], too.” They expect Morgan and his team to suggest Carla was crazy and paranoid; the photo will prove otherwise.
It’s very important for Nick and Serena’s plan that Morgan be blindsided. In a hostile divorce proceeding, the first camp to attack has a major advantage. But the tabloid picture tipped Morgan off — what reason would Carla have, other than a divorce-related one, to go to a lawyer who is not St. John Smallwood (Pip Torrens) at Cathcarts? Talking while Morgan gets a suit fitted, Smallwood assures Morgan he is protected by his bulletproof prenup even if he has failed to keep it in his “trousers,” which they both know he has. But Smallwood is more worried than he lets on to Morgan. He sets up his own war room as soon as he leaves the tailor, summoning Beatrice Ubosi (Nina Sosanya) from court. They need to get ahead.
To do so, each team needs an extra pair of hands. Nick wants to be careful about their firm’s spending, but Serena reminds him that Cathcarts has every resource at its disposal. If they want to win, they have to spend; and if they want to spend, they have to win. Enter the third strand in this deranged legal braid — sorry, deranged legal plait. We meet Johnny Warner (Archie Renaux) as he is interviewing for a job with Cathcarts. The senior partner interviewing him, David Schill (Miles Jupp), raises an eyebrow at his University of Michigan law degree, which is how we know he is cool and chill. Johnny’s explanation for his non-Ivy pedigree is that Michigan’s prestigious program also offered funding, which he needed as “a South London kid from a single-parent family.” Despite being judged for his background, Johnny is confident and even slightly threatening: “Don’t let me walk out of that door,” he warns. It’s Johnny’s tactic to be brazen; later in the episode, we see a montage of several similar interviews. Repeatedly, Johnny asks for just a month — no, a week; no, a day — to prove himself.
Out of law school, Johnny worked at a firm in New York. An as-yet-undisclosed Bad Thing happened there — the firms in London keep hearing from New York that Johnny isn’t all he cracks himself up to be. As he tries to pick up the pieces of his career, Johnny works at a fancy restaurant, where the rich clientele feels entitled to sexually harass him. One lady gropes his ass. Johnny goes from shift to job interview to fancy dinner parties with his posh girlfriend, Bella Croft (Tilda Swinton’s daughter, Honor Swinton Byrne), where he is the outcast. Bella’s childhood friend Angus (Jake Simmance), a corporate jerk, condescendingly probes Johnny about his career. In the cab home, Bella and Johnny argue about it, but he easily wins back her favor with his wit. He is, apparently, always doing that. Bella chews him out for punching Angus in the face right before Angus’s big presentation, which Johnny knew about because they were supposed to throw a return supper for him, a dinner Johnny was supposed to cook. But when Angus shows up at Johnny’s job and makes fun of him in front of all his corporate-jerk friends, Johnny stands up for himself via a right hook. He tells Bella it’s called “punching up,” and he’s damn right. He also explains that it’s okay he got fired because he finally has an offer from a firm. He will get back to them after one last interview.
The firms Johnny is deciding between are, of course, Cathcarts and Taylor & Byrne. Serena tells him his former boss Elliott Wyatt recommended him highly, which is strange given his former reticence. Johnny admits that Cathcarts offered him a more general position when what he really wants is a case he can “sink [his] teeth into.” Serena offers him a place in their brand-new, meaty, biggest-ever divorce case if he wants it — with the condition that he has to take it or leave it on the spot. If the stakes are high for the lawyers, they are astronomical for Johnny. He has no safety net of privilege, inherited wealth, or a family name to fall back on. He needs to prove himself and get his life back on track; we can already foresee that, for him, the ends will justify the means.
As the episode crescendos to a close, each team meets with its respective client. Morgan has no choice but to offer up the details of his dalliance with Flora, despite acting all sheepish about it. Nick and Serena instruct Carla to attend her film’s premiere that night with Morgan, as planned; later in the evening, they will serve him over email (Carla wants to serve him herself; she would know that’s not allowed if she watched Marriage Story). Beatrice and Smallwood, meanwhile, have devised their own scheme: They have hired Johnny. Only Nick and Serena have also hired Johnny; he will be their mole at Taylor & Byrne. Morgan’s first reaction is to worry about how that would look if word got out, but his lawyer reminds him he is “fucked already”: This is shaping up to be “the biggest divorce trial in British legal history, and you just admitted to screwing a 25-year-old stranger.” Even then, each team assures its client they are “the wronged party,” and both teams get permission from said parties to play dirty. Early 2020s prestige television skewered the rich and unscrupulous. Well, asks War, how about the striving and unscrupulous?
From the outset, War sets us up to side with Carla — sleazy rich men get away with enough. Heading to the premiere, Morgan doesn’t even know what Carla’s movie is about. She gets some satisfaction out of telling him she plays a spy who crosses and double-crosses people, but the smirk is wiped right off her face at the red carpet. Posing as a fan, one of the Cathcarts lawyers hands her an envelope: She has just been served.
Representations and Acknowledgements
• Given that we are set up to side with Carla from the start, I’ll be watching for potential reversals of this dynamic. Is there any world, however improbable, in which I side with Morgan?
• It seemed strange to me that the tabloid photo wouldn’t have come across the Taylor & Byrne desk or even Carla’s own. They are presented as the kind of savvy lawyers who would be attuned to small details like these; they went all the way to Paris to meet with Carla!
• We learn, briefly, that Carla has a son named Gabriel, who sends her a good-luck card before the premiere. A child is the No. 1 complication of divorce, so we can expect this to come into play sooner or later.
• Morgan’s assistant, Eric (Patrick Fabian), is obsessed with the idea of Morgan’s social-media platform, Zephyr, being bought by his competitor, Michael Anchor, who may or may not be courting Morgan. But at least so far, Morgan isn’t interested; his platform was devised as “a reaction against” Anchor’s. As tech moguls go, Morgan seems to be more Dario Amodei than Sam Altman. In his acceptance speech for the Pioneer of the Year award, he spews a lot of clichés about the dangers of alienation and calls for “accountability for our behavior online as there exists IRL.” The irony is, of course, that men like Morgan are never held accountable — it’s Taylor & Byrne’s goal to change that. Eric runs a team that works for Morgan; one of his colleagues finds a loose earring in Morgan’s bed, not that he needed any more incriminating evidence.
• Another small condescension directed toward Johnny comes from Bella’s mom, Harriet (Caroline Harker), who tries to assure him the Crofts don’t have any “expectations” for him to land a hot-shot job at a big firm. “It’s just not how we think,” she says. At least she takes his side in the Angus fight.
• The title of the episode refers to its two pivotal phone exchanges. In the first instance, Flora calls Carla to tell her the honey-trap plan is done. In the second instance, it’s Johnny texting David (who saves his number under “Michigan”) after he has accepted the Taylor & Byrne offer.

Entertainment

Steven Soderbergh To Help Finish ‘The Batman Part II’ Production

EXCLUSIVE: As director Matt Reeves continues to attend to an ongoing family matter, Steven Soderbergh is coming on to help finish principal photography for the final weeks of DC Studios’ The Batman Part II. The news comes after production was paused on the film so that Reeves could focus on the personal matter.
Soderbergh has been longtime admirer of Reeves work, and with Reeves unable to be on set, the Oscar-winning director offered to help with finishing principal photography on the film. Although Reeves is unable to be on set, the two will work together and remain in communication until filming has ended, with Reeves taking over post-production duties when he is ready to return.
The studio released a statement in regards to Soderbergh coming on to the production:
“As Matt Reeves continues to attend to an ongoing family matter, Steven Soderbergh, as an admirer of Matt’s work, approached Matt and will step in, with the full support of DC Studios, to help the writer-director complete the final weeks of principal photography on The Batman Part 2. Matt and Steven will work closely together with the actors and crew to fulfill Matt’s vision of the film.”
Soderbergh also released a statement:
“I thought Matt Reeves’ work on The Batman was stunning; it was intentional, specific, and rigorously coherent. The goal here is to work with Matt and his team to generate footage that will integrate seamlessly with what’s already been shot so Matt can properly finish his film.”
Deadline first broke the news earlier this month that production would be paused while Reeves attended to a family matter. Prior to the pause, filming had been underway in London. The film is set to bow on February 18, 2028. Sources say it is too early to say whether the stoppage will have an effect on the release date.
The cast has Robert Pattinson, Andy Serkis and Colin Farrell returning respectively as Batman, Alfred and Penguin, with new additions Scarlett Johansson, Sebastian Stan, Brian Tyree Henry, Jayme Lawson, Charles Dance, Gil Perez-Abraham and Sebastian Koch.

Entertainment

Netflix’s Bela Bajaria Leaving After 10 Years Amid Layoffs

In a major executive shakeup, Bela Bajaria is out at Netflix after 10 years at the streamer, most recently serving as its chief content officer.
She will be replaced by former Disney and Fox executive Peter Rice, as first reported by Puck. As chief content officer, Rice will lead Netflix’s global content organization, overseeing scripted and unscripted series, film, live events and more across all regions.
Bajaria’s exit comes amid a significant workforce reduction at Netflix. Around 1,000 employees (6% of the company) were laid off this week in what marks the streamer’s largest axing to date. Netflix‘s film VP Doug Belgrad and film director Sheroum Kim were also pink slipped as part of the restructuring.
“I want to thank Bela for a decade of dedication, innovation, creativity and leadership,” Sarandos, Netflix’s co-CEO, said in a statement. “She led enormous changes at Netflix. She helped broaden our content offering to include the large-scale expansion of unscripted programming and the launches of live events and sports, in addition to crafting and running a world class, global slate of films and series. I’m incredibly grateful for everything she’s done to help Netflix entertain the world.”
Bajaria joined Netflix in 2016 after she was let go from NBCUniversal, where she had served as president of Universal Television. In that role, she had produced shows that aired on Netflix, including “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt” and “Master of None.” Sarandos first brought in Bajaria to help Netflix launch an unscripted division, as well as licensing and studio co-productions. Bajaria was later elevated to head of global in 2020 as Cindy Holland exited the company, and was named chief content officer in January 2023.
Under her watch, Bajaria oversaw popular TV series including “Bridgerton,” “Squid Game,” “Adolescence,” “Beef,” “Stranger Things” and “Wednesday,” and films such as “KPop Demon Hunters” and “Frankenstein.” She also pushed Netflix into more live sports and events like “The Roast of Tom Brady” and deals with the NFL and WWE.
But in recent months, as Netflix growth has slowed, so too has the aura around its original programming. The streamer won just 16 Primetime Emmy awards this year — down from 30 in 2025 and quite a distance from 2021, when it tied the record for most Emmys won by an outlet in a single year, with 44. All told, 2026 was Netflix’s lowest Primetime Emmy haul since 2016.
“I know this is a big change in a year that has already had its share,” Sarandos wrote in a memo to staff. “But I also see an opportunity to take our slate to the next level, especially in UCAN [United States and Canada] where we have an outsize impact in creating big, buzzy hits that our members love and drive conversation around the world.
Rice’s own ousting at Disney in 2022, by then-CEO Bob Chapek, was a huge shock to the industry given his stature at the company. A well-regarded executive with strong talent relations, Rice was most recently chairman of Walt Disney Television and chairman of general entertainment for the Walt Disney Company. There he oversaw ABC, FOX Broadcasting, Fox Sports, ABC News, ABC Studios, Disney Channel, Freeform, FX Networks, Hulu, National Geographic, Onyx Collective, Disney Television and Twentieth Century Fox Television, with more than 300 shows and 4,000 hours of television a year. Programs during his tenure included “The Simpsons,” “American Idol,” “Modern Family,” “This Is Us,” “The Bear,” “Abbott Elementary,” “Shogun” and “Only Murders in the Building,” along with ABC News programming and sporting events such as the Super Bowl, NBA Finals and FIFA World Cup Finals.
Since he was let go from Disney, Rice worked as a producer on movies such as Jason Reitman’s “Saturday Night,” “28 Years Later” and “28 Years Later: The Bone Temple” at Sony, as well as “Warfare” and Chris Rock’s “Misty Green” at A24. He is currently producing Alex Garland’s “Elden Ring” and Sonoya Mizuno’s “Stages,” as well as as well as the opening and closing ceremonies for the LA28 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
Earlier in his career, Rice was president of 21st Century Fox and CEO of Fox Networks Group, and Fox’s lead executive on the Hulu board. He also worked at Fox Searchlight Pictures and worked on indie favorites like “Slumdog Millionaire,” “Juno,” “Little Miss Sunshine” and “Sideways.”
“Peter is one of the most effective at-scale operators in the entertainment industry. His business acumen is sharp, his talent relationships are exceptionally strong, and his experience across TV and film is deep and broad,” Sarandos said. “He understands what makes stories resonate, and he’s spent his career helping talent do the best work of their lives. I’m excited to welcome him to Netflix as chief content officer as we continue to scale and deliver members more of the stories they love.”
Added Rice, “Netflix has fundamentally changed the way stories are made, shared and experienced around the world. They’ve shown again and again that they’re willing to take chances on distinctive voices and fresh ideas, and I’m excited to work with the team to help bring even more great stories to members everywhere.”
Mike Schneider contributed to this report.

Entertainment

Violet & Xaden Have Been Cast In Prime Video’s ‘Fourth Wing’ TV Show

Lightning strikes as Prime Video has found its leading stars for the upcoming TV series Fourth Wing, the small-screen adaptation of Rebecca Yarros’ bestselling novel of the same name, from showrunner and EP Meredith Averill.
Esther McGregor (We Were Liars, Babygirl) has been cast as Violet Sorrengail, and Emilio Sakraya (Those About To Die, Warrior Nun) will bring to life the character of Xaden Riorson, sources close to production tell Deadline. Violet and Xaden are enemies-turned-lovers in the books.
Amazon declined to comment.
In the fantasy adventure, Violet is forced by her mother to enter the brutal world of Basgiath War College. She joins hundreds of candidates striving to become the elite of the country of Navarre: dragon riders.
In the book, 20-year-old Violet feels well on her way to becoming a Scribe (historian), following in the footsteps of her father, Asher, when her mother, General Lilith Sorrengail, makes her switch paths and become a dragon rider.
Far from the safety of the Archives where Scribes record the history of Navarre and keep records, Violet walks the parapet to bond with a dragon and undertake the very dangerous and highly fatal occupation. There, she encounters Xaden Riorson, a descendant of a rebellious sect of the population and a generally mysterious, brooding cadet with shadow-wielding powers. The one rule of Basgiath War College is “graduate or die.” Riders without their dragons are as good as dead, and vice versa, which stresses the bond between human and beast formed on Threshing Day.
Amazon MGM Studios snapped up the rights to the Empyrean book series for TV development in 2023, but it wasn’t picked up until this May when the streamer officially greenlit the series. Averill officially joined the series as showrunner and executive producer in September 2025. The greenlight included Lisa Joy as director of the series premiere and executive producer.
The plan is, if successful, to adapt the rest of the novels over multiple seasons. The Empyrean book series consists of five books, with Fourth Wing (2023), Iron Flame (2023), and Onyx Storm (2025) as the first three titles. Yarros is currently working on a fourth novel, which is as yet untitled, and a fifth will follow. She recently released a companion book of 13 short stories written from the point of view of dragon riders focusing on when they met their dragons, titled Threshing Day. It’s as-yet-unknown whether the new book will be included in the series, but it would make sense to feature some or all of the moments.
The series comes from Michael B. Jordan’s Outlier Society, Jonathan Nolan and Joy’s Kilter Films and Premeditated Productions. Jordan and Elizabeth Raposo executive produce via Outlier Society; Nolan, Joy, and Athena Wickham via Kilter Films; Liz Pelletier and Sherryl Clark via Premeditated Productions.
McGregor is currently shooting Life Is Strange for Prime Video, based on the video game. She also recently starred in the television adaptation of E. Lockhart’s best-selling novel, We Were Liars, for Prime Video. Her film credits include Babygirl and Pedro Almodóvar’s The Room Next Door. She previously starred with her father, Ewan McGregor, and sister, Clara McGregor, in the 2023 SXSW world premiere of Bleeding Love. On the TV side, she also appeared in the Disney+ series Obi-Wan Kenobi.
Sakraya’s schedule is also booked and busy, having recently completed work starring in the hit Netflix series One Piece‘s upcoming third season. In a recurring role, he will portray the character of Koza, leader of the rebel army. Among Fourth Wing fans, Sakraya was a top choice for the role of Xaden Riorson. His prior credits include the Peacock series Those About to Die, the mixed martial arts feature Sixty Minutes, the Netflix series Tribes of Europa, and Warrior Nun, also for the streamer.

Entertainment

Disney Inks Dude Perfect to Deal for Original Content

The Walt Disney Co. is cutting another major creator deal, this time with the prolific sports-focused Dude Perfect, The Hollywood Reporter has learned.
The deal, which the company is framing as a “company-wide creative partnership,” will span entertainment sports, consumer products and experiences.
Like Disney’s other creator deals, it will see some Dude Perfect content come to Disney+, including some of the group’s short-form library content. But it will also see the group create original content for its platforms and channels inspired by Disney events, with Super Bowl LXI, the 50th anniversary of Star Wars, and Marvel Studios’ Avengers: Doomsday among the projects being highlighted.
Dude Perfect was founded in 2009 when Tyler Toney, Coby Cotton, Cory Cotton, Garrett Hilbert and Cody Jones were all students at Texas A&M and decided to start a trick shot YouTube channel. It has since grown into a fully-fledged studio, with an 80,000-square foot facility in Frisco, Texas, and a full slate of programming and brand deals.
Dude Perfect raised $100 million from Highmount Capital in 2024 to help it kickstart its growth, with Coby Cotton telling THR at the time that they wanted to push further into live events and products, two areas that Disney happens to have particular expertise in.
Disney, meanwhile, has inked deals with creators like Dhar Mann and Like Nastya as it seeks to push further into that ecosystem. It also has a deal with TikTok that will bring some short-form content to Disney+.
Dude Perfect and Disney have worked together in the past, with the creators publishing videos like “Going to Every Disney Park in 75 Hours,” but the new deal significantly builds on that relationship.
“Disney has always been a place where great storytellers come to create, and Dude Perfect brings a distinctive voice and an inventive approach to everything they do,” said Asad Ayaz, Disney’s chief marketing and brand officer, in a statement. “By building on our longstanding relationship, we’re able to give fans even more ways to experience and be part of the Disney stories they love.”
“We’ve been Disney kids forever, from wearing out the VHS tape of The Lion King to making core memories as a family at Disney World,” added Dude Perfect co-founder Garrett Hilbert. “Disney taught us to go big and dream, and that has shaped everything we’ve built. Now, we get to make more of those dreams come to life with the Disney team, and we can’t wait to bring our fans along for the ride.”

Entertainment

Brendan Fraser Sequel Gets New Title Ahead of 2027 Release

Brendan Fraser‘s forthcoming installment in Universal Pictures‘ popular The Mummy franchise is alive and well.
The studio announced Thursday that the new movie will be titled The Mummy: Book of the Dead. Radio Silence duo Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett are set to direct the film from a script by David Coggeshall (The Family Plan). It hits theaters Oct. 15, 2027, exactly a year after the title announcement.
Fraser returns as Rick O’Connell alongside Rachel Weisz as Evie O’Connell. John Hannah, Michael Johnston, Numan Acar, Kevin J. O’Connor and Oded Fehr round out the cast.
The classic Universal monster property first sprang to life with Boris Karloff in the titular role of the 1932 feature The Mummy. After a number of offerings over the decades, Fraser and Weisz’s franchise kicked off with the Stephen Sommers-helmed 1999 version of the same name.
Producers include Sean Daniel, who has produced five previous titles in the franchise, alongside William Sherak, James Vanderbilt and Paul Neinstein for Project X Entertainment. Clayton Townsend also produces, while Fraser and Hivemind’s Jason F. Brown serve as executive producers.
Bettinelli-Olpin and Gillett, who helmed 2022’s franchise-reviving Scream and follow-up Scream VI, most recently directed this year’s Ready or Not 2: Here I Come.
The Mummy: Book of the Dead is a direct sequel to 1999’s The Mummy and 2001 sequel The Mummy Returns. The franchise also includes 2008’s poorly received The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor, which was followed by 2017’s Tom Cruise-led The Mummy reboot. The 1999 movie spawned the 2002 spinoff feature The Scorpion King, marking Dwayne Johnson’s first lead film role.
For the 25th anniversary of 1999’s The Mummy, director Sommers told The Hollywood Reporter that he continues to be pleased with the film’s lasting cultural impact. The franchise’s five theatrical features that began with the 1999 offering have surpassed $1.8 billion at the global box office. The 1999 movie centered on treasure hunter Rick heading out on an adventure with Evie and her brother, Jonathan (Hannah), where they accidentally awaken a mummy.
“It’s so funny how it just never went away,” said Sommers, who also helmed The Mummy Returns. “It’s always on TV somewhere. And I know, especially because the residual checks are great. I hate to say it, but somehow, it’s endeared itself to a lot of people.”