Director: Jesse Moss, Tony Gerber
What happens in the hours after a president refuses to concede? "War Game" answers that question by staging the scenario for real, with the very officials who'd have to live through it.
What is War Game about?
Filmmakers Jesse Moss and Tony Gerber recruited a bipartisan group of former senior officials — governors, a National Guard chief, a retired four-star general, cabinet-level veterans — and dropped them into an unscripted, real-time simulation of a contested election night. As armed insurgents seize state capitols and military chain-of-command questions pile up, the participants have to improvise their responses on the spot, with no script telling them how the crisis resolves. The documentary intercuts the exercise with sober commentary on disinformation and institutional strain, building tension less through drama than through the uncomfortable plausibility of everything on screen.
Cast & crew
The people on screen aren't actors playing officials, they're former officials playing themselves: Steve Bullock, Wesley Clark, Heidi Heitkamp, Linda Singh, Alexander Vindman, Doug Jones, and Elizabeth Neumann all take part in the exercise, alongside organizer Janessa Goldbeck.
Context & significance
"War Game" premiered in 2024 and drew attention for its format: a genuine tabletop crisis simulation filmed as it unfolded, rather than a reenactment written after the fact. Commentators noted its bipartisan cast as a deliberate choice, meant to frame the film's concerns about democratic stability as shared across the political spectrum rather than partisan. Reviewers also pointed to the exercise's roots in real military and law-enforcement training methods, which the filmmakers adapted specifically to probe how civilian leadership would hold up under sustained, coordinated pressure rather than a single dramatic flashpoint.
Where & how to watch
"War Game" streams on K-Time with a free account login, and this page — synopsis, cast, and background included — is free to read without signing in. K-Time is built for the Iranian diaspora with a Farsi-forward browsing experience across its catalog.