War of the Worlds (2019 TV series)

War of the Worlds is a television series produced by Fox Networks Group and StudioCanal-backed Urban Myth Films. The series is written by Howard Overman, and directed by Gilles Coulier and Richard Clark. The series is a loose adaptation of the H.G. Wells 1898 novel of the same name, and is the third television adaptation of the Wells Martian invasion novel. War of the Worlds consists of eight episodes, and first premiered in France on October 28, 2019. It has been renewed for a second season.[1]

This article is about the 2019 Fox/Canal+ adaptation. For the 2019 British adaptation for the BBC, see The War of the Worlds (British TV series).
War of the Worlds
French title card
Genre
Created byHoward Overman
Based onThe War of the Worlds
by H. G. Wells
Written byHoward Overman
Directed by
Starring
Country of origin
  • United States
  • France
Original language(s)
  • English
  • French
No. of series1
No. of episodes8 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producer(s)
  • Howard Overman
  • Julian Murphy
  • Johnny Capps
  • Gilles Coulier
Producer(s)Gareth Williams
Production location(s)
  • United Kingdom
  • France
  • Belgium
Running time60 minutes
Production company(s)
Distributor
Release
Original network
Original releaseOctober 28, 2019 (2019-10-28) –
present (present)
External links
Website

Premise

The series takes place in present-day Europe, but it serves as a re-imagining of the classic H.G. Wells' novel.[2]

In this new take on War Of The Worlds, when astronomers detect a transmission from another star, it is definitive proof of intelligent extra-terrestrial life. Earth's population waits for further contact with bated breath, but does not have to wait long. Within days, mankind is all but wiped out, with just pockets of humanity are left in an eerily deserted world. As alien ships appear in the sky, the survivors ask a burning question — who are these attackers and why are they hell-bent on our destruction?

— Den of Geek[3]

Cast

Main

The below actors are credited in the opening titles of only one or two episodes in which they play a significant role.

Episodes
No.TitleDirected byWritten byOriginal French air date
1Episode 1Gilles CoulierHoward OvermanOctober 28, 2019 (2019-10-28)
Astronomer Catherine Durand detects a strong signal from Ross 128 which is of intelligent origin. Soon afterwards a large group of meteors impacts the centers of all major inhabited areas of Earth. They are indeed metallic spacecraft. They start emitting a magnetic signal which quickly kills all unsheltered humans. In London Sarah Gresham fights to save her children Tom and Emily, while her husband Jonathan is in Paris and desperately tries to get home. Emily hears strange sounds. Bill tries to warn his son Dan and to save his ex-wife Helen. Kariem finds himself alone in a strange environment. Catherine's sister Sophia tries to reach her at the observatory.
2Episode 2Gilles CoulierHoward OvermanOctober 28, 2019 (2019-10-28)
In London, in Paris and in the French Alps, the survivors try to reach their loved ones, walking among the dead and wondering about the motives of the invaders. Both Helen and Sarah find it hard to grasp this new reality. Tom and Emily struggle to understand their mother's behaviour. Jonathan decides to make his way alone back to England. Neuroscientist Bill finds the alien methods mindboggling. Kariem makes some bad decisions based on fear. Catherine despairs in the search for her sister Sophia. In a Grenoble supermarket Catherine, colonel Mokrani and a group of French soldiers have a first encounter with quadrupedal lethal cyborgs.
3Episode 3Gilles CoulierHoward OvermanNovember 4, 2019 (2019-11-04)
Helen and Bill arrive too late in the command center. They manage to incapacitate a quadruped bot and make a discovery about its nature. Sarah and her children meet Ash and provide help in a hospital. Emily temporarily recovers her sight and befriends Kariem. Catherine is in shock when she finds out what role she and her colleagues played in the alien attack. Jonathan meets Chloe and they head north together.
4Episode 4Gilles CoulierHoward OvermanNovember 4, 2019 (2019-11-04)
Catherine finds the source of the sounds and Colonel Mokrani and his team go out to investigate. Ash makes a very tough decision while Kariem saves lives. Sarah and her children have a close encounter with a cyborg. Sacha finds a meteor site and hears strange noises. Helen and Bill are determined to find a way to destroy all quadruped bots. Kariem and Emily bond. Chloe has to confront her past. Ash and Kariem return to the hospital and are startled by their finds.
5Episode 5Richard ClarkHoward OvermanNovember 11, 2019 (2019-11-11)
Patches of survivors find each other and team up. They all try to find a way to cope with their situation. Bill finds a student in Tom. Emily feels a strange connection with the alien invaders. Chloe and Sacha struggle to cope with their emotions. The fight intensifies as we find out what the quadruped bots are after. Jonathan is baffled by Sacha's behaviour. Colonel Mokrani and his team make some interesting discoveries. Catherine has a close shave.
6Episode 6Richard ClarkHoward OvermanNovember 11, 2019 (2019-11-11)
Emily's sight recovers as she hears the noise. Bill is intrigued by her connection to the cyborgs, others question it. Sacha discovers he has a connection to the cyborgs too and Jonathan finds his behaviour very hard to understand. In London the group of survivors make their way to the university lab where Bill and Tom try to gain information on the quadrupeds. They find the aliens know more about humans than they imagined possible. Emily clashes with her mother. Helen and Sarah take a gamble and end up in a precarious situation. Tom's birthday needs celebrating and everybody reconciles. Catherine and Mokrani's team return to the observatory where a surprise awaits them.
7Episode 7Richard ClarkHoward OvermanNovember 18, 2019 (2019-11-18)
We see how Sophia survived the first few days. The situation between Jonathan and Sacha reaches boiling point. Bill tries to get information from Emily but she feels more confused than ever. Catherine's priorities have changed now Sophia is alive. She develops a theory around the alien noise. Helen finds out about Bill's secret. The future looks very different for the London group when disaster strikes.
8Episode 8Richard ClarkHoward OvermanNovember 18, 2019 (2019-11-18)
Catherine, Sophia and Mokrani's team go looking for other survivors. Ash doubts Emily's motives while Bill wrestles with his new reality. Jonathan learns the truth about Sacha and Chloe. Emily and Kariem go looking for answers. Sacha decides to follow Jonathan to England in hope of meeting his daughter. Catherine puts her theory to the test.

Production

Development

War of the Worlds is produced by Fox Networks Group and StudioCanal.[5][6] AGC Television co-finances and co-distributes the series.[2]

Gilles Coulier and Richard Clark each directed four episodes of the series, with Coulier directing the first four episode and Clark directing the last four.[7] The series was written by Howard Overman.[7] The series is executive produced by Overman, Julian Murphy and Johnny Capps.[8] By October 2019, the creative team had begun work on a second season.[1]

Casting

Gabriel Byrne and Elizabeth McGovern star in the series, and they are joined by Daisy Edgar-Jones, Stéphane Caillard, Adel Bencherif, Guillaume Gouix, Léa Drucker and Natasha Little.[3] Greg Kinnear was originally set to star, but was not listed in the starring cast list when it was revealed by Deadline Hollywood in January 2019.[2]

Filming

Production for series 1 took place in the United Kingdom, France and Belgium.[2][9] The series was filmed in Bristol in March 2019,[10] as well as filming in Cardiff, Newport and London.[9][11]

Series 2 began filming on July 13, 2020.[12]

Release

The first series was released in full on MyCanal in France on October 28, 2019,[2][13] before being broadcast from October 28 in weekly batches of two episodes,[14][15] and was released in most parts of Europe and Africa weekly between October 30 and December 18, 2019.[16][17] On November 21, 2019, it was announced that the series is set to premiere in the United States on February 16, 2020 on Epix.[18] The series is scheduled to be broadcast in the UK on March 5, 2020.[19]

Canal+ and Fox Networks Group have the rights to release the series in Europe and Africa. AGC Television distribute the series to the North American market, and co-distribute with StudioCanal to Latin America, Asia, Australia, New Zealand, and the Middle East. Fox Networks Group release the series in Europe.[2][6] The series broadcasts on Fox in more than 50 countries.[7]

References
  1. Croll, Ben (October 14, 2019). "Behind the Scenes With Gabriel Byrne, Elizabeth McGovern on 'War of the Worlds'". Variety. Retrieved November 15, 2019.
  2. Wiseman, Andreas (2019-01-29). "'War Of The Worlds': Gabriel Byrne & Elizabeth McGovern Lead Cast In Sci-Fi Series From Canal+, FNG & AGC". Deadline. Retrieved 2019-06-27.
  3. "New War Of The Worlds TV series cast, images, plot and more". Den of Geek.
  4. "War of the Worlds - FOX". Fox. Retrieved October 19, 2019.
  5. Clarke, Stewart (2018-11-05). "Greg Kinnear in Talks to Star in Canal Plus, Fox Adaptation of 'War of the Worlds'". Variety. Retrieved 2019-06-27.
  6. Clarke, Stewart (2019-06-27). "First Look at Gabriel Byrne, Elizabeth McGovern in 'War of the Worlds' Series". Variety. Retrieved 2019-07-04.
  7. Hughes, Janet (2019-02-24). "Filming to start on epic, star-studded sci-fi TV series". gloucestershirelive. Retrieved 2019-07-04.
  8. Clarke, Stewart (July 20, 2018). "'War of the Worlds' Series Coming From Fox Europe and Africa, Canal Plus".
  9. "War of the Worlds to film UK locations". The Knowledge.
  10. Guild, New War of the Worlds adaptation filming in Bristol | The Production. "New War of the Worlds adaptation filming in Bristol | The Production Guild". productionguild.com.
  11. "www.kftv.com/news/2019/1/21/the-war-of-the-worlds-drama-filming-in-uk-and-europe". kftv.com. Retrieved 2019-10-06.
  12. https://deadline.com/2020/07/war-of-the-worlds-urban-myth-coronavirus-production-plans-1202981603/
  13. "Une date pour la série événement "La guerre des mondes" sur Canal+" [A date for the "War of the Worlds" event series on Canal +]. C News (in French). October 8, 2019. Retrieved November 1, 2019.
  14. "La guerre des mondes saison 1" [The War of the Worlds Season 1]. L'Obs (in French). Retrieved October 30, 2019.
  15. "La Guerre des Mondes : une date pour la série de Canal+" [The War of the Worlds: a date for the Canal + series]. AlloCiné (in French). October 7, 2019. Retrieved November 1, 2019.
  16. "Fox's War of the Worlds show has hints of The Day of the Triffids - htxt.africa". htxt.co.za. Retrieved 2019-10-06.
  17. "War of the Worlds - FOX for everyone in everywhere". Fox Africa. Retrieved October 17, 2019.
  18. "EPIX(R) Lands Urban Myth Films' Reimagining of "War of the Worlds"". The Futon Critic. November 21, 2019.
  19. "Fox Sets March UK Premiere Date For Their 'War of The Worlds' Adaptation Starring Gabriel Byrne".
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