# War of the Worlds (2019 TV series)

War of the Worlds is a science fiction television series produced by Fox Networks Group and StudioCanal-backed Urban Myth Films. The series is created and written by Howard Overman and directed by Gilles Coulier and Richard Clark. The series is an adaptation of The War of the Worlds, an 1898 novel by H. G. Wells about Earth coming to terms in the wake of a sudden Martian invasion. It is the third television adaptation of the novel. It stars Daisy Edgar-Jones and Gabriel Byrne, along with an ensemble supporting cast, including a number of co-stars who change over time.
The first season consists of eight episodes and premiered in France in October 2019. An eight-episode second season premiered in France in May 2021. War of the Worlds was renewed for a third eight-episode season in July 2021, which aired in September 2022.

## Premise

The series takes place in contemporary Britain and France, but it serves as a re-imagining of the classic H. G. Wells novel.
   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 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?

## Cast
### Main

* Gabriel Byrne as Bill Ward
* Léa Drucker as Catherine Durand
* Daisy Edgar-Jones as Emily Gresham (seasons 1–2)
* Elizabeth McGovern as Helen Brown, Bill's ex-wife (season 1; guest season 2)
* Bayo Gbadamosi as Kariem Gat Wich Machar
* Adel Bencherif as Colonel Mustafa Mokrani (season 1; guest season 2-3)
* Emilie de Preissac as Sophia Durand, Catherine's sister
* Natasha Little as Sarah Gresham, Emily and Tom's mother
* Ty Tennant as Tom Gresham, Emily's brother
* Stephen Campbell Moore as Jonathan Gresham, Emily and Tom's father
* Paul Gorostidi as Nathan
* Stéphane Caillard as Chloe Dumont
* Aaron Heffernan as Ash Daniel (seasons 1, 3; recurring season 2)
* Mathieu Torloting as Sacha Dumont, Chloe's son (season 2; recurring season 1)
* Pearl Chanda as Zoe (seasons 2–3)
* Ania Sowinski as Adina, an alien leader (seasons 2–3)
* Molly Windsor as Martha (season 3)
* Lizzie Brocheré as Juliet (season 3)
* Lukas Haas as Richard (season 3)

### Featured

The below actors are credited in the opening titles of only one or two episodes in which they play a significant role.
* Georgina Rich as Rachel (guest, season 1 & 3)
* Michael Marcus as Dan Ward, Bill and Helen's son (guest, seasons 1 & 3)
* Alysson Paradis as Officer Clara
* Guillaume Gouix as Noah Dumont, Chloe's brother

## Episodes

| Season | Episodes | Episodes | Originally released | Originally released |
| Season | Episodes | Episodes | First released | Last released |
| 1 | 8 | 8 | October 28, 2019 (2019-10-28) | November 18, 2019 (2019-11-18) |
| 2 | 8 | 8 | May 17, 2021 (2021-05-17) | June 7, 2021 (2021-06-07) |
| 3 | 8 | 8 | September 5, 2022 (2022-09-05) | September 26, 2022 (2022-09-26) |

### Season 1 (2019)

| No. overall | No. in season | Episode | Directed by | Written by | Original French air date |
| 1 | 1 | Episode 1 | Gilles Coulier | Howard Overman | October 28, 2019 (2019-10-28) |
| Astronomer Catherine Durand investigates a strong signal from exoplanet Ross 128 b which is of intelligent origin. Soon afterwards a large group of meteors hits the centers of all major inhabited areas of Earth. They are indeed metallic spacecraft. Blind teenager Emily can hear strange pulsing sounds, while scientist Bill recognizes the magnetic signal in the pulses (received by equipment from his brain research). He tries to warn his son Dan and goes to find his ex-wife Helen. The magnetic signal increases and quickly kills all humans who are not underground, underwater or in metallic rooms. In London, Sarah Gresham, with her children, Tom and Emily, fortunately drive into an underground parade, while her husband Jonathan is in Paris, where his taxi plunges into the Seine at an opportune moment. Kariem enters England illegally, hiding inside a metal storage cylinder and emerges to find himself alone in a strange environment. Catherine's sister Sophia tries to reach her at the observatory. ||||||
| 2 | 2 | Episode 2 | Gilles Coulier | Howard Overman | October 28, 2019 (2019-10-28) |
| In London, Paris and the French Alps, the survivors try to reach their loved ones, walking among the dead and wondering about the motives of the invaders. Helen and Sarah find it hard to grasp this new reality. Tom and Emily struggle to understand their mother's behaviour, especially when she refuses to let them help Kariem, who has been injured in an attack by a shop keeper. Jonathan decides to make his way alone back to England. Neuroscientist Bill finds the alien methods mystifying. 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 lethal, alien quadrupedal bots. ||||||
| 3 | 3 | Episode 3 | Gilles Coulier | Howard Overman | November 4, 2019 (2019-11-04) |
| Helen and Bill arrive too late to find Dan at the command center but learn he escaped when a quadruped bot killed most of the personnel. They manage to incapacitate a quadruped and discover that it is a cyborg, with a biological interior. Sarah and her children meet an orderly outside a hospital, Ash. They find Kariem recuperating inside and Ash orders them to get over their previous meeting. Once again, only Emily hears the alien pulses, which temporarily restores her sight. Catherine is in shock when the alien pulses – which she hears on equipment – suddenly play the song that she and her colleagues had once broadcast into space, confirming this song attracted the alien attackers to Earth. Jonathan meets Chloe, who warns him of the quadrupeds; they head north together – bound for London and Amiens, respectively. After Bill finds Dan's body outside, Helen grieves, then asks Bill to find a way to kill the quadrupeds. A pack of quadrupeds approach the hospital and are positioned to enter. ||||||
| 4 | 4 | Episode 4 | Gilles Coulier | Howard Overman | November 4, 2019 (2019-11-04) |
| Catherine finds the source of the sounds and Colonel Mokrani and his team go out to investigate. Sarah and her children have a close encounter with a quadruped. Sacha finds a meteor site and hears the noises Emily hears in London. Helen and Bill are determined to find a way to destroy all the quadruped cyborgs. Kariem and Emily bond. Arriving at her childhood home with Jonathan, Chloe finds Sacha and her policeman brother, Noah. Ash and Kariem return to the hospital and are startled to find that the quadruped bots have taken the nursery babies, after killing the other people there. ||||||
| 5 | 5 | Episode 5 | Richard Clark | Howard Overman | November 11, 2019 (2019-11-11) |
| Helen and Bill meet up with, and join, the Greshams' quintet of survivors. They 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. Sacha overhears Chloe berating Noah for raping her when she was 15, resulting in Sacha. Emily and Kariem have sex. Further confirmation of what the quadruped cyborgs may be after is revealed when one kills a pregnant woman by removing the fetus. Jonathan is baffled by Sacha's behaviour, seeing him leave his "uncle" Noah to be killed. Catherine, Colonel Mokrani and his team discover a destroyed alien ship, containing some organic material ("is that what they look like?"), where some malfunctioning quadrupeds are harmlessly wandering through the wreckage. ||||||
| 6 | 6 | Episode 6 | Richard Clark | Howard Overman | November 11, 2019 (2019-11-11) |
| Emily's sight recovers as she hears the noise, then she calmly stares at a quadruped cyborg until it turns and walks away. Bill is intrigued by her connection to the cyborgs, others question it. Sacha discovers he has a connection to the cyborgs too – which cause him to briefly see a girl (Emily) he does not know. Jonathan, joined by Chloe and Sacha on the journey to the Channel and England, finds Sacha's behaviour very hard to understand, including Sacha's sudden interest in Emily, when he sees Jonathan's family photo. 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 they are surprised to find Sophia but none of the other soldiers. ||||||
| 7 | 7 | Episode 7 | Richard Clark | Howard Overman | November 18, 2019 (2019-11-18) |
| Sophia managed to survive when she hid inside a mountain service tunnel before the deadly alien signal was transmitted. She then found a young English boy, Theo, who she takes responsibility for. They spend some time with other survivors, before walking to Catherine's mountaintop observatory. Bill tries to get information from Emily but she is sympathetic to the aliens, rationalizing that humans killing in war is similar to the aliens killing humans. Chloe discovers that Sacha stole Jonathan's picture, convincing her that he is twisted enough to have facilitated Noah's death. Sacha attacks Jonathan, then runs into the forest. Emily has two more friendly encounters with a quadruped cyborg, not telling anyone about the first instance, then Helen is killed by the cyborg in the second instance. At the start of Emily's second encounter, Sacha has a friendly cyborg encounter in France; both teenagers have visions of each other at the same moment. Sophia, who has had no choice but to kick her addictions, convinces Catherine that the world may end, so she should have no choice but to act on her feelings for Colonel Mokrani. Catherine develops a theory that the high-frequency alien noise connects all the cyborgs, similar to birds having innate connections. She wonders if her low frequency science array caused the nearby alien crash. ||||||
| 8 | 8 | Episode 8 | Richard Clark | Howard Overman | November 18, 2019 (2019-11-18) |
| Catherine, Sophia and Mokrani's troops move down the mountain to the ski resort to look for the other survivors. Along the way, they discover that the missing troops at the observatory have been killed by the cyborgs. Ash further doubts Emily's motives and confronts her mother, while Bill wrestles with his new reality. Jonathan learns the truth about Sacha's father from Chloe. Emily encounters another cyborg and Sacha does too at the same moment. They both experience an intimate vision together. Emily believes she must meet up and communicate with the aliens. Kariem allows her to go, but only on the condition that he goes with her. Sacha decides to follow Jonathan and Chloe to England, secretly hoping to meet his daughter, Emily. The cyborgs launch an attack at the ski resort and Sophia is hit. Catherine puts her frequency jamming theory to the test. Emily enters a massive cylindrical-shaped alien ship located on the river Thames. Inside, she finds the newborn babies and an alien that looks very human in form. ||||||

### Season 2 (2021)

| No. overall | No. in season | Episode | Directed by | Written by | Original French air date |
| 9 | 1 | Episode 9 | Richard Clark | Howard Overman | May 17, 2021 (2021-05-17) |
| The Alien shows Emily a vision of a woman on a destroyed and polluted planet, and the alien ship takes off. Six months later more people have arrived at the university and have formed a resistance. Bill is working on a bioweapon based on dead humanoid aliens. Outside Grenoble, Micah is pursued and shot by a group of people but makes it to the Observatory, where he is revealed to be a humanoid alien. Micah is looking for Bill as 'the cause of their suffering'. Jonathan, Chloe and Sascha make it back to London and find a Resistance group in Vauxhall. Three resistance groups make assaults on alien ships that have landed since the attack, and find them deserted - apart from a returned Emily. On leaving they are all ambushed by more humanoid aliens bearing Emily's tattoo. Emily can only remember flashes of memories of her time on the ship, of the same woman she saw in her original vision who asks her to kill Bill. ||||||
| 10 | 2 | Episode 10 | Richard Clark | Howard Overman | May 17, 2021 (2021-05-17) |
| Catherine gives the antibiotic to Micah, against orders – he awakens and explains the formulas in the notebooks are the key to moving objects through space and time. Aliens track Micah to the observatory and infiltrate. In the fighting, Theo and Col. Makrani are killed, and his own brother murders Micah. Bill Ward is developing a bioweapon that blocks insulin production with fatal results, and after taking hair samples, discovers that Emily's DNA is almost identical to that of the aliens. Jonathan, Chloe, and Sacha meet up with survivors in London, and Jonathan is reunited with his family, but ultimately chooses to be with Chloe. Sacha and Emily recognize each other from the visions. Later Emily tries to stab Bill in his sleep but is pulled off by Kariem. Bill chooses to try out the bioweapon on Emily. Catherine and Sophia escaped the observatory with Nathan, trying to find Bill Ward's identity. ||||||
| 11 | 3 | Episode 11 | Richard Clark | Howard Overman | May 24, 2021 (2021-05-24) |
| 12 | 4 | Episode 12 | Richard Clark | Howard Overman | May 24, 2021 (2021-05-24) |
| 13 | 5 | Episode 13 | Ben A. Williams | Howard Overman | May 31, 2021 (2021-05-31) |
| 14 | 6 | Episode 14 | Ben A. Williams | Howard Overman | May 31, 2021 (2021-05-31) |
| 15 | 7 | Episode 15 | Ben A. Williams | Howard Overman | June 7, 2021 (2021-06-07) |
| 16 | 8 | Episode 16 | Ben A. Williams | Howard Overman | June 7, 2021 (2021-06-07) |

### Season 3 (2022)

| No. overall | No. in season | Episode | Directed by | Written by | Original French air date |
| 17 | 1 | Episode 17 | Indra Siera | Howard Overman | September 5, 2022 (2022-09-05) |
| Sophia tells a support group about a vision of being in the mountains trying to get to Catherines observatory. She recalls the road being busy with cars and seeing lights in the sky. She is sure she experienced it and that others have had similar experiences. In London, a broadcaster reports people worldwide having ‘hallucinations’ and that doctors and psychologists cant explain it. Zoe is in her apartment looking at her laptop which shows drawings of the quadruped alien robots (quads) cleaning the streets by burning piled up bodies. She has a vision of having been there with Bill and Kariem. There are also drawings of the quads and of the ‘eye’ symbol on the humanoid aliens. She has another vision of seeing the mark on someone’s arm. Above the Earth there is unusual atmospheric activity; Catherine explains to the Nato Security Committee that a black hole has appeared. It gave the first sighting of a magnetic monopole which is a wavelike charge that permeates space time. It is proof of the theory of many worlds and many dimensions beyond our own. She doesn’t know if it’s connected to the ‘hallucinations’ being experienced and expresses doubt thats what they are as theres growing evidence the waves emitted may affect human consciousness. She admits to having experienced them herself but can cope while others have lost their grip on reality. Outside the meeting the UK representative has a vision of being with her deceased children in the Government bunker. Two astronauts, Juliet and Richard, on board the International Space Station are asked to change orbit to collect more info on the black hole. Adina and a young alien are brought into a police station. They overpower and kill the cops, demanding evidence retrieved from the hospital (Noahs notebook) After a shootout, only Adina escapes. Zoe goes to work at MI5 and receives a report of the police station attack and of the eye mark on the captured alien. She later attends support group meetings to gather info. After his actions at the end of series 2, Bill is in prison. He calls his son Dan who shuns him. Adina returns to a location where an alien, Hiram, appears to be manufacturing some kind of equipment. Catherine visits Sophia at what turns out to be a psychiatric hospital. Before going in Catherine has a vision of them during an attack at the observatory. Sophia describes some of their experiences in post attack London and the baby she had in that reality. Outside another support group, Kariem recognises Zoe who initially rebuffs him but is shaken. He tells her he has seen Ash at a group and was upset to see the report on Emily and Bill Ward despite never having met her. Zoe visits Bill in jail. He immediately recognises her but is initially reluctant to explain why. He tells her he killed Emily to stop an attack. She and Sacha were the Adam and Eve of an alien race. They have crippling genetic mutations but believing their suffering was caused by humans their descendants came back through time and killed billions. Using their technology Bill traveled back in time and killed Emily to stop their race coming into existence. Emilys brother Tom is at University with a girlfriend, Martha. We learn she is an alien who drugs him and takes blood while he sleeps. She uses this to treat her ailing brother, Hiram. Zoe goes to Kariem’s workplace and tells him what Bill told her. She later interviews the young alien from the police station attack telling her she knows about them, Emily etc and is attacked by the girl. Afterwards she tells Kariem she believes Bill. At the psychiatric hospital, Sophia has a vision of Nathan and their relationship. She sneaks out of the building. Whilst walking she has a vision of dead motorists and abandoned cars after the attack and of a quad pursuing her. She’s hit and killed by a truck in the present. While Juliet and Richard discuss a spacewalk, an imagined journey into the black hole leads to a post attack/apocalyptic London. ||||||
| 18 | 2 | Episode 18 | Indra Siera | Howard Overman | September 5, 2022 (2022-09-05) |
| Richard has a vision of the space station breaking up whilst on a spacewalk. He struggles to return to the airlock, panicking due to water in his helmet. Later he reads a report by Catherine and wonders about his consciousness being affected by the black hole. He contacts her to share his experience and theorises the curved space time of the black hole may be opening a doorway to another universe, another time. He thinks it could be proven by using a particle accelerator which may be able to mimic the phenomenon opening a pathway into another world. Catherine believes Sophia was ‘in another world’ when she was killed although a doctor believes she killed herself. She asks Johannes to contact a friend at Oxford with access to a particle accelerator theorising it could provide a window into the other World; where Sophia is still alive. Zoe visits Bill again and tells him she believes him. Bill asks her to get him released to help her figure out the aliens current plan but she doesn’t have the authority. Catherine and Johannes arrive in Oxford. She has a vision of being in the post attack London lab where she previously made some discoveries about how the quad worked and about talking with Sophia about being smart with science but finding people hard to understand. In the present, she and Johannes arrive at the lab and succeed in forming micro black holes. Catherine puts her hand in the accelerator and her consciousness is transported to the post attack lab where she emotionally apologises to Sophia for not being there for her. Afterward, she regains consciousness in the present and explains to Johannes she was aware of Sophia having died in the present even though she was with her in that alternate reality. She and Johannes spend the night together. Kariem, with Ash, approaches Tom who is defensive but accepts Kariem’s number. Hiram and Adina test the device. It’s a type of weapon which somehow kills a large number of birds nearby. Richard and Juliet detect the change caused as its tested. Zoe and Kariem find the building they have been working in but they and the weapon are no longer there. ||||||
| 19 | 3 | Episode 19 | Indra Siera | Howard Overman | September 12, 2022 (2022-09-12) |
| Hiram tells Adina work is needed to stabilise the weapon. Zoe and Bill work out its purpose; to affect neural functioning. Catherine tells Richard about using his data with the particle accelerator and exposing herself to the beam, experiencing an alternate reality. Later he shares updated data with her. He and Juliet discuss telling Mission Control what they’re doing. They kiss. Zoe is suspended after sharing her information with her boss. After taking Toms blood and administering it to Hiram, Martha takes a pregnancy test. Zoe visits her parents and has a vision of them post attack. She asks her Dad to leave London if she calls. Catherine returns to the lab and using Richards updated data, again exposes herself to the beam. Her consciousness is transported to post attack London and she begins to make her way towards a gallery Sophia had mentioned from a vision. She finds Nathan, Sophia and their baby Celine telling them she travelled through space and time to find them. In the present, Zoe and Kariem help Bill escape custody while he’s at hospital for an x-ray. Ash helps them set up in an office building. Tom sees a news report and views surveillance footage on the report showing Kariem and Zoe. Bill examines a bird killed when Adina and Hiram tested the weapon. He realises the excessive firing of the prefrontal neurons causing seizure was the cause of death. In post attack London, Sophia tells Catherine how Bill travelled back in time to try and stop the attack and when nothing changed they thought he had failed. Catherine tells her the attack never happened in the world she came from. When asked, she tells Sophia she is alive in that World. Nathan tells Catherine the black hole appeared right after Bill left. If people are outside too long they have seizures. He shows her some individuals they are keeping alive after exposure which include Emilys brother Tom. In the present, Johannes sits beside Catherines comatose body in hospital. ||||||
| 20 | 4 | Episode 20 | Indra Siera | Howard Overman | September 12, 2022 (2022-09-12) |
| In the present, Tom has a vision of he and Bill as friends in post attack London. Afterward, he sees the eye mark on Marthas arm, searches her bag and finds the blood bag etc. He calls Kariem and they arrange to meet. Richard tries to contact Catherine but receives no reply. She remains comatose in hospital. In post attack London she spends time with Sophia and tells her about her relationship with Johannes. Nathan tells her about some of the discoveries she made about the quads when she was previously with them. In the present, Tom demands to meet Bill. In an emotional meeting Bill reminds him of the things he knows about him due to their friendship in post attack London. He asks him if he has had visions of that time. After, in exchange, Tom arranges to meet Martha so she can be captured for questioning. Richard learns what has happened to Catherine. He theorises she may be in an alternate world after using his data with the particle accelerator. In post attack London, Catherine tells Nathan and Sophia experimenting on a quad could be useful. She theorises a quantum being isn’t trapped in one consciousness, they can feel them all. Maybe they could use that to communicate with the other World and find a way to stop the effects of the black hole. She tells them how people in her World are also being affected by the gravitational waves; they’re seeing glimpses of their post attack reality. She tells Sophia how she was affected and died. Later her and Nathan go out to search for a quad. Martha confesses to taking Toms blood for Hiram. They thought they could cure themselves but they cant. She tells them everyone will pay; her people and ours. Whilst Nathan and Catherine search, she is attacked by a quad but it leaves her to cradle a baby doll she had been holding, allowing time for Nathan to damage it and take part for examination. He has to return without her after shes forced to the underground by a man, Sam, to help with his parents who have been exposed to the black hole too long. Tom helps Martha to escape as Kariem gives chase. She evades him but its a plan to allow her to be tracked. ||||||
| 21 | 5 | Episode 21 | Indra Siera | Howard Overman | September 19, 2022 (2022-09-19) |
| Martha is tracked to a block of flats by Zoe, Kariem and Tom. Adina realises and they are ambushed. Tom is injured but they are able to escape. On the space station, Juliet picks up an emergency radio transmission through the black hole. Later they hear the alien communication but they are unaware what it is. Richard carries out a spacewalk to try and improve the signal and experiences another glimpse of the station breaking up. Martha tells Hiram about her pregnancy offering hope for a future. Catherine and Sam drag his parents through subway tunnels towards the hospital. They reach help but Catherine realises too late they’re aliens. ||||||
| 22 | 6 | Episode 22 | Jonas Alexander Arnby | Howard Overman | September 19, 2022 (2022-09-19) |
| In post attack London, Catherine lets on to her captor she knows Tom, Emilys brother, and has to agree to lead them to him to save their lives. She promises Sam she’ll return for him. In the present, Zoe and Kariem approach Johannes and ask him to talk to Bill about what happened to Catherines and her work. Hiram damages the weapon believing there is hope in Marthas pregnancy. Adina kills him but tells Martha his organs failed. Bill contacts Richard and Juliet on the Space Station explaining whats happened to Catherine and how this is linked to people seeing glimpses of experiences they had in an alternate reality. While waiting for daylight Catherine observes a quad nuzzle her captor like a pet animal would. She asks if the quads feel affection towards them. He replies that ‘They take care of us when we’re sick. They help raise our young.’ Bill realises Adina etc plan to create a black hole with the weapon. It will become entangled with the one above the Earth and cause humans neurons to fire uncontrollably, killing all. Later Bill etc have to leave their safe house in a hurry after Bill is spotted. ||||||
| 23 | 7 | Episode 23 | Jonas Alexander Arnby | Howard Overman | September 26, 2022 (2022-09-26) |
| A group of aliens and quads attack the hideout under the gallery, possibly tracking a transmission Catherine has made to Richard on the space station using the quad technology. Trapped, they give up comatose Tom to them after injecting him with a blood thinning drug. They prepare to look for a new hideout. Adina starts the weapon. The effects are detected by Richard and Juliet on the Space Station. It’s a chain reaction that cant be stopped. Martha, who has realised Hiram was murdered, is forced to take them to Bill and the others. After a stand off Zoe kills Adina and the group see that the gravitational waves are becoming stronger. Zoe and Ash are injured and seek hospital care. Bill, Kariem and Tom travel to Oxford and Johannes helps them access the particle accelerator. Bill exposes himself to it, finds himself in post attack London and makes his way to Catherine. The only hope is to somehow close the black hole. ||||||
| 24 | 8 | Episode 24 | Jonas Alexander Arnby | Howard Overman | September 26, 2022 (2022-09-26) |
| As the gravitational waves intensify, Zoe is taken to see a UK Govt Minister in a bunker with govt personnel including Bills son Dan. The minister has had visions of taking her own life after the death of her children. Zoe tells them the aliens have created a micro black hole which is entangled with the black hole at the edge of Earths atmosphere. When the gravitational waves reach a certain strength everyone will fall into a coma and die. In post attack London, Catherine tells Bill it may be possible to interfere with the entanglement causing the black hole to dissipate but the same waves at the same frequency must be transmitted on the opposite side. Nathan, Catherine and Bill leave for a transmitter they hope is strong enough. On the space station as Richard realises what has to be done on their side. Juliet prepares to leave but ultimately decides to stay with him. Bill is attacked by a quad en route and Nathan tries to hold it off to give he and Catherine time to set up and align the transmitter with the black hole. Zoes parents have managed to get out of London. She advises them to get somewhere underground. As the strength of the waves intensify Catherine collapses leaving an injured Bill to complete the transmission under Richards instruction. As the space station begins to break up, Juliet has a vision of herself with her child. (She had previously shared how she chose the space programme over motherhood) Catherine wakes and realises Bill is injured. The black hole has dissipated. He urges her to leave him and return to Sophia. She finds Nathan injured and they head back. Catherine keeps her promise and returns to free Sam. Two weeks later…. In the present Zoe tells Kariem all charges have been dropped against them, giving him a UK passport and they plan to go on a date to celebrate. Ash visits his partner and child, apologises for ‘acting crazy’ and tells her he’s ready to be a father. Dan visits comatose Bill and apologises as Zoe has told him the reason for his actions. In the post attack world Catherine, Nathan and Sophia appear to be travelling back to France with Celine. As she and Sophia talk Catherine has a sense of the present as we see a tearful Johannes say goodbye to her in hospital as her life support is removed. It is ultimately a happy moment as she delights in her niece, Celine. ||||||

## Production
### Development

War of the Worlds is produced by Fox Networks Group and StudioCanal. AGC Television co-finances and co-distributes the series. The series is executive produced by Overman, Julian Murphy and Johnny Capps. Gilles Coulier and Richard Clark each directed four episodes of the first season, with Coulier directing the first four episode and Clark directing the last four. The series was written by Howard Overman.
By October 2019, the creative team had begun work on a second season. Richard Clark returned to direct the first four episodes, with Ben A. Williams directing the final four. In July 2021, War of the Worlds was renewed for a third season, which aired in 2022. Season 3 is directed by Indra Siera and Jonas Alexander Arnby.

### Casting

Gabriel Byrne and Elizabeth McGovern star in the series. They are joined by Daisy Edgar-Jones and Bayo Gbadamosi as co-stars and Aimee-Ffion Edwards, Stéphane Caillard, Adel Bencherif, Guillaume Gouix, Léa Drucker and Natasha Little as main supporting cast. 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.

### Filming

Production for the first season took place in the United Kingdom, France and Belgium. The series was filmed in Bristol in March 2019, as well as filming in Cardiff, Newport and London.
The second season began filming on July 13, 2020, with filming concluding on October 22, 2020.
The song “Into My Arms” by Nick Cave is prominently used In the series.

## Release

The first series was released in full on MyCanal in France on October 28, 2019, before being broadcast from the same day in weekly batches of two episodes and was released in most parts of Europe and Africa weekly between October 30 and December 18, 2019. The series premiered in the United States on February 16, 2020, on Epix; in the UK on March 5, 2020; and in Canada on October 7, 2020, on CBC Television. Canal+ and Fox Networks Group have the rights to release the series in Europe and Africa. AGC Television distributes the series to the North American market and co-distributes, with StudioCanal, to Latin America, Asia, Australia, New Zealand and the Middle East. Fox Networks Group releases the series in Europe. The series broadcasts on Fox in more than 50 countries and on Epix in the United States and territories.
The eight-episode second season was released in full on May 17, 2021 in France on MyCanal, before being broadcast from the same day in weekly batches of two episodes, mirroring the release of the first season. The season premiered May 24, 2021 on Fox in South Africa; in the United States on Epix on June 6, 2021; and on October 6, 2021, in Canada on CBC Gem.
The eight-episode third season began broadcast from September 5, 2022, in weekly batches of two episodes. The season premiered in the United States on Epix on September 12, 2022.

## Reception

Ben Dowell in The Times gave the first series four out of five stars. The AV Club dubbed it "compelling if derivative". NY Times describes it as a "smart, atmospheric genre series".