WAR - Dominic West (Morgan Henderson) Q+A

Morgan Henderson is the king of his own domain. Raised in privilege and entitlement, he is tactical, sharp-humoured and, after years in hedge fund management, a tech business disruptor and founder of Zephyr - a “social media platform based on positivity”.

After years of pouring his energy into making his business profitable, he’s ready to fight tooth and claw for it during his divorce with Carla. To his peers, he is a force to be reckoned with, but Morgan also has a softer side which is often only seen when with his stepson Gabriel, the child he never knew he needed.

Ahead of the series, actor Dominic West talks about what makes Morgan tick, what it was like working alongside Sienna Miller once again, and finding the balance between Carla and Morgan’s love/hate relationship…

I play Morgan Henderson. He is what was described to me as a “benign billionaire”. I did some research and there are 2,500 billionaires, and there are only three benign ones. He set up a social media platform that generates goodwill rather than backbiting.

He’s getting a divorce from a glamorous film actress, Carla Duval, played by Sienna Miller. We are trying to do it amicably, because it’s such high stakes because he’s so wealthy, but it doesn’t go that way…

Well, it passed the first criteria, which is, do you read it in one go? Is it a page turner? And it really was. George Kay [the creator] is a really good writer. I worked with him on The Hour with Abi Morgan years ago, and I’d spoken to him a year or two ago about another project, and so I was very excited to get his script.

Having seen the first episode, the excitement on the page is definitely borne out in the filming. He’s a brilliant television writer, and it really trips along.

The chief draw was working with George. For me, it’s always about the strength of the script. Then, once Sienna Miller came on board, that was a huge bonus – we were off to the races.

I was a bit nervous and a little reticent about playing a billionaire getting divorced, but actually it works really well, and I really enjoyed it.

It’s a glamorous, glossy look into the world of high-stakes legal battles, and the lengths that the lawyers, and their high-profile clients, will go in order to win.

It’s a fascinating look at what happens when the stakes are high and they start to lose control of their power as well as their humanity.

Firstly, I liked the fact that he was trying to do good. Obviously, he made a lot of money in the city or wherever, from banking, that was ill-gotten gains. But he was keen to turn that into something good, into an alternative to other social media platforms.

I thought that was a fairly plausible idea. The older I get, the less interested I am in playing villains. I kind of like the idea of playing a guy who’s trying to do the right thing.

The show avoids classic heroes and villains. Everyone is fighting for what they believe is right, which makes the conflict feel much more complex.

No, not really. I listened to this brilliant podcast called Good Bad Billionaire. And it’s amazing how few good ones there are when they decide at the end of each episode if a billionaire is, “bad,” “good,” or “just another billionaire”.

There wasn’t really anyone I could base him on that was British. There’s Dyson and Branson, but both of them just came out as “just another billionaire”. Morgan is an amalgam of my understanding of billionaires from that podcast.

Morgan can be controlling and ruthless, but that’s what makes him interesting. There are ways he acts in the show that I don’t agree with, but it’s fascinating seeing what he does when the stakes get higher and everything he’s built is on the line.

Another really big draw for me was the opportunity to work with Pip Torrens. I thought he was amazing in the first season of The Crown, I just loved him. And sure enough, when we met, we really hit it off. I think we had a chemistry based on my fandom and his generosity. I do most of my scenes with him, and those scenes have an ease, almost a sort of comic chemistry.

I’ve also known Sienna for years. We did As You Like It on the stage together years ago, so we had a lot of fun in our scenes, despite hating each other on the show. I also knew Miles Jupp a little bit, and he’s always great fun. It was a really fun set in general.

I think what really struck me is that knife edge between love and hate. Someone you love, or have loved deeply can become someone you hate. It’s a very thin line between the two. And what George has done really well is that we’re constantly dancing on that line. Someone you love becomes someone you’re trying to take down.

Well, the last two or three episodes of this season are all in a courtroom, and you can’t beat courtroom drama. Barristers in their own way are so theatrical.

I know a lot of actors who wanted to be barristers, and I’m sure there are lots of barristers who wanted to be actors. It’s about performance and melodrama. It’s so fascinating looking inside that rarefied world of top lawyers, seeing the very worst of humanity as well as the best.

I think it’s a rollicking good ride. It’s really entertaining. I hope people will like the characters – even though they’re not immediately sympathetic – and care what happens to them and believe that they’re trying to do their best, even though the pressures of money cause people to do their worst.

Glamorous, sexy, thriller.