War of the Worlds Season 1: An Alien Invasion Story, Bleak Yet Unique

War of the Worlds Season 1: An Alien Invasion Story, Bleak Yet Unique

War of the Worlds is a classic alien invasion story that everyone has at least heard of because of its cultural significance. Serialized by H.G. Wells in 1897, The War of the Worlds was one of the earliest known works to use extraterrestrial invasion as a central plot. It’s become so influential in culture today that I’m sure just mentioning the tripods from the story conjure up classic images of three-legged alien machines intent on killing any human that stands in its path. The story is most well-known for its 1938 radio drama, which allegedly caused a panic among listeners of the channel who tuned it late, not realizing the dramatization was not a real alien invasion. This, however, was only one of a plethora of adaptations the story would receive, including films, comics, and even a 1978 music album.

There have also been a number of adaptations to television, although a consistent theme amongst them is that none of them adapt the original story with much faith. The first of these series acted as a sequel to a 1953 film adaptation of the story. And it wasn’t until 2019 that the story was adapted twice, both in the same year. The first adaptation was a three-part miniseries aired by BBC, the most faithful television adaptation of its time. Though it appeared many critics were dissuaded by a lack of quality and apparent commentary on modern-day issues despite taking place in the early 1900s. The running trend, it seems, is to never adapt Wells’ original story faithfully, but to instead twist it in order to create something new—for better or worse. War of the Worlds, a UK-France co-production that began in 2019, is no different.

The show begins with astronomer Catherine Durand discovering a signal from space being transmitted to Earth by a star. The transmission acts as irrefutable proof of extraterrestrial life. A few days after this discovery is made, hundreds of metallic objects crash into Earth around the globe, scarring the land in cities and towns across the planet. This is observed by five major protagonists in the show’s ensemble cast of characters: Catherine, who has been restationed in northern France after her discovery; Emily Gresham, a blind teenager who is able to hear a vibration emanating from the objects; Jonathan Gresham, Emily’s father who is trapped in France because of business and tries to get back to his family after seeing the objects crash; Kariem Gat Wich Machar, a transport stowaway intending to rob a vehicle for money; and Bill Ward, a university professor who is trying to figure out why the objects are there. These five protagonists whom every episode shifts between do not have to wait long for something to transpire. Bill himself discovers it before it happens; the objects are relay devices that will be used to send an electromagnetic pulse to Earth, specifically tailored to kill any human not in a confined space at the moment of eruption.

Our protagonists manage to make it to safety. Unfortunately, the rest of humanity—billions of people across the planet—perish in an instant, leaving millions of bodies across the UK and France, the two major regions of the series. While survival takes precedence in everyone’s mind, each group soon discovers the extraterrestrials are not done with humanity yet. They’ve sent hunters back to not only wipe humanity out, but apparently for another, more mysterious purpose. Each character has their own goals as the series continues: Catherine and Bill, who attempt in their separate storylines to better understand what’s going on; Kariem, whose only thought is of surviving until the next day; Emily, who under the protection of her family wants to find relative safety; and Jonathan, trying to journey from France to the UK in order to find his family.

There are a multitude of major differences between this series and the original story—or other, more faithful adaptations. For one, the invasion is worldwide and thoughtfully plotted instead of centered to the UK (although that’s where most of the story takes place). The classic tripod alien crafts are also absent, instead replaced by canine-like robots that have mysterious properties to their makeup. There is also much more to the show than just survival in an alien apocalypse. This isn’t like The Walking Dead where the focus is always about surviving and where humans act as the major antagonists. War of the Worlds instead sets up what appears to be a multi-season arc pertaining to multiple survivors as well as the purpose the extraterrestrials have for being on Earth. It’s a very intriguing mystery that the show sets up, as every time I was watching the series and thought I had it figured out, the show throws me for another loop that I wasn’t anticipating.

But one of the best aspects of the show is the way it handles its plotlines. Every plotline is separate from one another for the vast majority of the show, yet taking place in the same world means different developments the audience observes can explain why things happen in other story threads. Without spoiling anything, at one point Emily’s family ends up at a hospital where they meet Ash Daniel. Despite his lack of ability to do so, Ash is trying to take care of all the babies that were left behind in the hospital, asking Emily’s family to assist him. While this plot thread does well to develop the family as characters as well as introduce Ash and his own attributes, the specifics that transpire throughout build toward the mystery of why the aliens are here and what they want. It’s fascinating to watch almost every aspect of the show focus on characters and their interactions while simultaneously using these interactions to build questions about the invaders. It’s almost like whiplash after watching 10 seasons of The Walking Dead do something similar because the show has a clear path that it wants to explore. To some degree, this makes the show War of the Worlds in name alone, as it follows an interesting and unique premise that would never get the attention it deserves had it not been for the series’ recognizable title.

What also makes this series so unique is how bleak it is. The show never steers away from showcasing the ugly reality of its world and the consequences of billions of people on Earth dying all at once. There are many gruesome moments in the series and a very depressing air to much of its first half. While to some degree the series feels like it’s wallowing in hopelessness in order to indicate just how terrible the world has become, its portrayal seeks to add realism to a science fiction story that otherwise is fictitious in nature. While there were plenty of eye-rolling moments in the first half of the season that made it feel as though the writers were being a bit too edgy with how dark they wanted to make the series, many of these issues ironed themselves out in an engaging second half that focused more on stories and characters than self-pity and futility.

It’s tough to discuss the rest of the series without dipping into spoiler territory, something I don’t want to do here because of just how unique of an alien invasion show the first season sets this up to be. This isn’t the War of the Worlds that you know, and to be honest the use of its namesake for this project feels rather disingenuous. If you’ve heard of the show before and wanted to check it out because of its familiarity, then you may want to watch something else. But if you’re itching for a unique alien invasion story that has set itself up for a long-running tale of interesting characters and storylines, then you won’t want to miss out on this. The series airs can be found on Epix in the United States, MyCanal in France, and on Fox Network Groups in Europe and Africa. Its use of Wells’ War of the Worlds namesake may feel misplaced at times. But there is a genuine story being told here whose recognition is well-deserved that you won’t want to miss. And neither will I when I take a look at season 2 in the near future.