Olivia Wilde and Jason Sudeikis’ messy split ‘inspired’ Sienna Miller and Dominic West’s explosive new divorce drama War

Olivia Wilde and Jason Sudeikis’s messy split reportedly inspired Sky’s blockbuster new divorce drama, War.

Written and directed by George Kay, the eight-part series took notes from a real-life event which took place right after the collapse of the couple’s seven-year engagement in 2020.

Dominic West stars as tech tycoon Morgan Henderson, who spectacularly splits from his movie actress wife Carla Duval, played by Sienna Miller.

The show follows the couple’s fortunes through the eyes of their respective legal teams Taylor & Byrne and Cathcarts & Sons.

When asked how much inspiration was taken from real life events, George remained coy, saying: ‘I guess there are little lifts off real life, little nods, but really it’s original storytelling and it’s our characters.’

However, it is said that one particular flashpoint in episode one reflects a memory of Olivia and Jason’s break up.

Talking about that particular moment at the series premiere in London on Wednesday, Sienna said: ‘It’s awful and it’s based on a real-life event we’re all probably familiar with. 

‘I think Carla probably thinks that (the divorce) will be a little bit messy, that she’ll get what she asks for. But at that moment, she decides that, it’s too late.’

Dominic said: ‘Even Morgan is stunned, but it kicks the whole thing off. The difference between love and war is on a knife-edge and he navigates that. 

‘The honey trap’s the first shot, but what he does on the declares war.’

Sky appears to be anticipating success as season two has already been ordered and is being filmed.

The second series will move to a new major legal case involving defamation, meaning War is set to become an anthology series.

Olivia and Jason were embroiled in a messy split, which saw their fight for custody take a nasty turn.

The pair – who share son Otis and daughter Daisy – initially began dating in 2011 after meeting at a Saturday Night Live finale party.

They got engaged in 2013 and welcomed their two children before announcing their shock split at the end of 2020.

Court filings obtained exclusively by DailyMail.com revealed the exes’ once-amicable custody and co-parenting agreement had taken a turn for the worse after Jason filed a suit against his ex in New York City Family Court in October 2021.

He had wanted the children to live in Brooklyn. Olivia, however, wanted them to stay with her in Los Angeles, and possibly relocate to London.

Olivia was served the court documents on April 26 as she spoke about her new movie on stage at CinemaCon in Las Vegas. 

The Hollywood star was in the middle of a presentation for 4,100 film industry executives about her upcoming thriller Don’t Worry Darling when she was awkwardly handed a manila envelope by a court process server.

The Booksmart director referenced being served in her court motion, slamming her ex for his ‘outrageous legal tactics’ and delivering the documents ‘mid-speech’.

‘Jason’s actions were clearly intended to threaten me and catch me off guard. He could have served me discreetly, but instead he chose to serve me in the most aggressive manner possible,’ she said in the documents.

‘The fact that Jason would embarrass me professionally and put our personal conflict on public display in this manner is extremely contrary to our children’s best interests. Since Jason has made it clear that we will not be able to work this out for our children’s sake outside of the court system, I filed a petition for custody in Los Angeles.’

In August, a New York judge, in a legal filing signed August 5, ruled ‘New York was not the home state of the subject children’ and that rather ‘California was the children’s home state’ as he dismissed the case.

The day after the ruling went public, Olivia shared a seemingly celebratory Instagram Story image which saw her throwing a hand in the air while out-and-about with one of her children in London.