The very first episode of HBO‘s new legal drama War wastes no time letting us know how brutal the divorce of Martin Henderson (Dominic West) and Carla Duval (Sienna Miller) is going to be.
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divorce → waste → Henderson
Spoilers for War Episode 1 “It’s Done,” now streaming on HBO Max*
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It → do → HBO
*
We’ve got Carla sending friends to honeypot Martin, Martin letting his lawyers serve Carla divorce papers at her own premiere, and a mole working at one law firm (Taylor & Byrne) only to report back to the other (Cathcart & Sons).
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mole → get → other
We spend the entire episode following clever and handsome, but the commonly born, Johnny Warren (Archie Renaux) as he attempts to land himself a job at one of London’s prestigious law firms, only to get the cold shoulder.
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he → spend → shoulder
Instead, he has to return daily to the indignities of serving tables at a high end restaurant.
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he → have → restaurant
There, the wealthy female patrons sexually harass him and his posh girlfriend Bella’s (Honor Swinton Byrne) “friend” Angus (Jake Simmance) humiliates him for laughs.
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girlfriend → harass → laughs
In fact, it’s when Johnny finally snaps and punches Angus that he has to walk away from waiting tables.
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he → ’ → tables
When he gets home to a furious Bella, he tells her that he actually has gotten a job offer — though that seems suspect — and one last interview with Taylor & Byrne…
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that → get → Taylor
War Episode 1 “It’s Done” ends with Carla’s lawyers Nicholas Taylor (James McArdle) and Serena Byrne (Phoebe Fox) offering Johnny a job on the spot.
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lawyers → do → spot
He takes it.
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He → take → it
However, it’s not his real job.
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it → ’ → ?
As it turns out, Johnny’s already working for rival firm, Cathcarts & Sons…
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Johnny → turn → firm
Here’s what you need to know about how Johnny became the mole in HBO’s War…
War Episode 1 Ending Explained: Whose Side is Johnny On? How Johnny Became the Mole
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Johnny → ’ → is
When we first meet Johnny in War, he’s struggling through a job interview with Cathcarts & Sons lawyer David Schill (Miles Jupp).
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he → meet → Schill
Schill gives the desperate young man a noncommittal answer (that feels like a no), but does call out the fact that Johnny has history in New York working at a big firm run by the Wyatts.
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Johnny → give → Wyatts
Later, Johnny gets a phone call as he’s packing up his locker to leave his restaurant job.
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he → get → job
When he gets home, he tells his worried girlfriend that everything is okay because he got a job offer and has one last interview.
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he → get → interview
It feels so much like his previous bluster, we thought he was lying about the offer.
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he → feel → offer
However, as Johnny aces his interview with Taylor & Byrne — complete with glowing recommendation from old man Wyatt’s son — we learn that everything, from the recommendation to the interview, is part of Schill’s plan to get an inside man to leak intel on Carla Duval’s side of the divorce proceedings.
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man → ace → proceedings
“I think it was a bit of luck because we had this show with two law firms and then we had this character who couldn’t get a job at a law firm and suddenly I thought maybe he could interview for both and then the idea that he might be working for another one,” War creator George Kay told DECIDER.
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Kay → think → DECIDER
“Sometimes when you’re writing you box yourself into a corner and then you think, ‘Oh, what’s the kind of craziest thing you could do at this moment?’
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you → write → moment
So then you have to sort of back structure it to build up to that twist.”
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you → have → twist
Archie Renaux told DECIDER that he learned about Johnny’s duplicitous role in the show when he initially read the first two scripts.
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he → tell → scripts
“So I found out then, and I was like, ‘Okay, this is a juicy character,'” Renaux said.
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Renaux → find → ?
“But [Johnny’s] not a bad guy,” Kay said.
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Kay → ’ → ?
“He’s there because it’s his only way to get a job as a lawyer.
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it → ’ → lawyer
Archie does a brilliant job tracking the emotional baggage that comes with all that.”
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that → do → that
“I think he’s just got a bit of a chip on his shoulder to prove to himself,” Renaux said.
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Renaux → think → himself
“He’s trying to prove to everyone that he deserves a seat at the table, I think, and I think that sort of spurs him on.
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that → try → him
So Archie Renaux’s Johnny is the mole who is going to be causing drama over the course of the first season of War, but where have you seen Renaux before?
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you → go → Renaux
Who Plays Johnny Warren in War?
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Who → play → War
Why Archie Renaux Looks So Familiar:
Archie Renaux plays Johnny Warren in HBO’s War.
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Renaux → look → War
The London-born (Kingston-Upon-Thames) 28-year-old actor is Anglo-Indian on his mother’s side and started his career as a model before shifting over to acting.
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actor → bear → acting
If Archie Renaux looks familiar to you, it’s because he’s been in everything from Netflix’s massive YA adaptation, Shadow & Bone (where he made Mal actually interesting!*), to the recent Alien movie, Alien: Romulus.
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Mal → look → movie
He also romanced Camila Mendes in Upgraded and played Bella Ramsey’s thoughtful older brother “Edward the Monk” in Lena Dunham’s under-watched (but rather brilliant) Catherine Called Birdy.
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He → romance → Catherine
Soon, he will be starring opposite KJ Apa and Isabel May in the romantic dramedy Falling.
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he → star → dramedy
You can follow Renaux on Instagram @archierenaux3.
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You → follow → @archierenaux3
*I found Mal very boring in the books, but Renaux made him compelling on screen.
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him → find → screen
The Aporia
