HBO's New #1 Drama Is Officially Switching Casts For Season 2

Published Oct 22, 2026, 5:18 PM EDT

Dani Kessel Odom (they/them) is an autistic lead writer and TV critic who covers sci-fi shows like Doctor Who and Pluribus, fantasy shows like The Magicians and Percy Jackson, and horror of all kinds. They also cover Marvel and DC TV shows and movies, with a robust knowledge of comic books. Their TV reviews can be found on Rotten Tomatoes.

Dani is also part of ScreenRant's books team, using their fiction writing and literature studies as the backbone for their book analyses.

They have covered events, such as the Denver Fan Expo. Professionals in the field, such as Damien Leone and Lucy Hale, have shared their articles. Their review of Ponies was quoted in the show's TV trailer.

In university, they majored in English Writing with a minor in psychology. They have always had a passion for analyzing TV and movies, even taking filmography and scriptwriting classes in university. They also studied and participated in onstage and onscreen acting extensively from the ages of 7 to 18.

Aside from working at Screen Rant, Dani has worked as a freelance editor and writer over the past decade, often in a ghostwriting capacity.

War's debut season follows the divorce case of a rich social media mogul and an actress, handled by two rival firms, Cathcarts & Sons and Taylor & Byrne. The HBO and Sky co-production War topped all HBO TV charts on FlixPatrol yesterday, October 22, 2026. Today, it is the number one drama on HBO and number four TV show when including documentaries and reality TV. Meanwhile, it ranks number one of all HBO media accessed through Amazon Channels.

The legal drama's success isn’t surprising. The studios had enough confidence in the TV show to give it a two-season order, right off the bat. Plus, as I said in my review of War for ScreenRant, the show feels utterly Shakespearean in the best way possible. The manipulation, lies, and backstabbing are enthralling. It's every negative lawyer stereotype all wrapped up in one.

War season 2 will come with a big change, though, as the TV series is an anthology with only a small throughline. Each season focuses on a different case set at the same two rival law firms. As such, most of the War cast will change in the next season. Though it’s disappointing to let go some of the actors that made season 1 great, it will ultimately keep the show fresh.

War Already Announced Its Season 2 Cast

HBO and Sky Atlantic have known the cast of War season 2 for quite a while. Based on production timeline estimates, filming started just before we found out. Luckily, Deadline shared the cast with us back in May, five months before the show’s debut. As much as it will be sad to lose Dominic West and Sienna Miller, the most interesting part of the first season is the manipulative, money-hungry lawyers. The good news is War season 1’s cast members playing lawyers at Cathcarts & Sons and Taylor & Byrne will return.

Additionally, Marisa Tomei, Kelly Macdonald, David Harewood, and Richard Schiff will join them. Details about their specific characters are still under wraps, but we know the second season will focus on a high-profile defamation case. As such, at least two of them will play defendants. They also announced fourteen supporting cast members, including Claire Skinner and Douglas Booth.

By far, the most exciting actor in the War season 2 cast is Marisa Tomei. Tomei played Mona Lisa Vito in the classic 1992 courtroom movie My Cousin Vinny, one of the best law movies of all time. Still, the other three main cast members all have connections to the legal thriller and courtroom drama genres. Macdonald appeared as Anna Dean in the 2019 legal show The Victims. Schiff has had one- to two-episode arcs in legal shows. Meanwhile, Harewood is currently starring as Pierre Jeffries in the show Pierre. Ultimately, War season 2 is in good hands with these new leads.

War Is Likely To Continue A Positive HBO Trend

War season 2 doesn’t have an official release date, or even release window, announced. However, the second season began filming early this year, and the Sky website says filming has wrapped in September. It’s not a genre that requires extensive special effects, and War season 1 was only in post-production for approximately eight months. As such, viewers could expect the next season as early as May 2026, though it seems more likely they will push it to October to keep a consistent yearly release.

The good news is this sticks to the old HBO’s release formula, which made the studio so appealing. They released new seasons of shows yearly throughout the 2000s and 2010s. They managed to keep this up with higher-demand shows like Game of Thrones and The Sopranos. Though the 2020s moved away from this in the first half of the decade, they’ve started shifting back. If War continues past season 2, it could easily become a flagship TV show with a yearly release, like The Pitt.