HBO’s War centers around the juicy event everyone wants to watch, but no one wants to be a part of: divorce. Two high-profile Londoners enlist the help of a talented team of lawyers to negotiate each penny, penthouse, and prenuptial agreement as their marriage falls apart in the public eye. Actor Archie Renaux steps into his role as an enlisted party and double agent. The plot unravels in a mess of scandal, betrayal, and a constant war for power. This scramble happens between two law firms; the buttoned up Cathcarts versus the modernized Taylor and Bern.

Renaux’s character, Johnny Warren, is ambitious and overconfident. He comes off as all talk, but has the skills to be a great lawyer. He’s portrayed as an outsider in the posh, upper-class circles of London and is barely treading water in the series pilot. He’s trying to secure a job at a law firm in London after a fallout in New York sent him running. He’s arrived in London overzealous and once again the underdog; yet Renaux is anything but. His acting career is growing exponentially, recently having starred in Alien: Romulus and the Netflix series Shadow and Bone. For Amazon Prime, Renaux starred opposite Camilla Mendes in Upgraded. The list goes on as he’s made his way across film and television, working for directors Lena Dunham, Daniel Espinosa, and Neil Burger. 

With War, Renaux continues to take flight, being cast opposite Dominic West, Sienna Miller, Pip Torrens, and Phoebe Fox. The setting is a courtroom, but each party is heading into battle. Renaux considers the emotional battles and moral compromises his character makes, and like Johnny, Renaux knows what it feels like to have an appetite for success.

VMAN: Where did the name Renaux come from?

ARCHIE RENAUX: It’s from my mum’s side. I used to get teased a bit with Beale, which is my real surname, because of a soap opera called EastEnders. There’s a family that has been on it for years. I just used to get teased about it in school, and I got so tired of it I just thought maybe I’ll use something else. The name didn’t come from nowhere; my great-great-grandfather is Henry Renaux.

VMAN: Tell me a little bit about working with Dominic West and Sienna Miller. It’s a star-studded cast—what was it like to work with those people?

AR: Amazing. I think we were spoiled with how talented the cast is. I feel like everyone knows their characters so well, and it’s so nice to just be able to have fun and explore different dynamics. I was quite lucky. I got to travel around a bit and have conversations and be in scenes with lots of different people. I really got to experience the Cathcarts and the sort of slight snobbery over there. And then Taylor and Bern being a more modern, newer company with a few people similar to Johnny’s age. 

VMAN: What do you think it is about these legal dramas that people are so drawn to?

AR: It’s sort of a peek behind the curtain. I think for audiences, they’re able to just sit there and feel uncomfortable for other people or live vicariously through these other characters without having to go through any of it yourself. I think there is some sort of fascination with people in the public eye, and this show especially gives people a glimpse into that world. 

VMAN: How do you use fashion in your personal life, what about in public life? Is it something you’re passionate about or does it take a backseat? 

AR: My partner’s a stylist, so she’s very much into fashion. She’s obviously talking about it a lot and watching shows, so I get to learn a little bit through her. It’s something I’ve gotten more into, especially with premieres. I quite like to, and I know that Zendaya does this, where you try to pick your outfit and link it to the film.

VMAN: It’s called method dressing! Margot Robbie did it for Wuthering Heights too. How did you get into your role and get into that character? There was this overconfidence that you had to emulate with Johnny. 

AR: I start with what similarities I have with him. I think there are a few parallels: Johnny is trying to sell himself at all times, and there is a hunger. He’s very ambitious and driven, which I think we share a bit of. I’ve done jobs where I’ve done door-to-door sales, which is most of the time rejection and getting the door slammed in your face. But you have to keep going because you don’t earn any money unless you get the leads. I worked with an acting coach as well, just to give another pair of eyes and another mind on the script. I was lucky; Johnny’s just a really interesting character. He’s morally conflicted a lot of the time. I think his ambitions outweigh and blind him for most of the story, really. 

VMAN: You said that there are parallels you can draw with your character in War. What do you hope the audience understands about Johnny?

AR: He’s someone who’s had the door shut on him so much, and even just the door being out of reach for a lot of his life. I want people to understand that because it’s a different kind of hunger that you have when everything has seemed out of reach for you. So as soon as he gets close, he smells blood, and it’s just tunnel vision. 

Photography Emilio Madrid

Fashion Krishan Parmar

Groomer Melissa Dezarte