The cable channel HBO gave the go-ahead to a seven-part miniseries based on Evan Wright's book about his experiences as an embedded reporter with the U.S. Marine Corps' 1st Reconnaissance Battalion during the Iraq War's first phase.

[5][6][7] David Simon and Ed Burns co-wrote and executive produced the miniseries alongside Company Pictures' George Faber and Charles Pattinson, and HBO's Anne Thomopoulos.

The critical consensus reads, "Generation Kill plunges the viewer into war with a visceral force that's still somehow reined in by masterful storytelling and a strong command of period details.

[6] Entertainment Weekly gave the series an "A−" rating, and critic Ken Tucker remarked favorably on its avoidance of cliché, self-consciousness, and agenda-driven storytelling, and praised its execution, nuance, and verisimilitude.

[12] Robert Bianco of USA Today wrote: "the seven-part Generation Kill is what you'd hope for from the people behind The Wire: an honest, barely adorned, sometimes painfully vivid representation of life as we live it now.

[16] Writing for The New York Times, Alessandra Stanley remarked "Generation Kill has a superb cast and script, provides a searingly intense, clear-eyed look at the first stage of the war, and it is often gripping".

Club wrote: "By the time Generation Kill's final chapter ends, Wright and company have created not just a nuanced, necessary explication of recent events, but an epic that can stand alongside the greatest long-form movies ever made".

[20] Similarly, Troy Patterson of Slate wrote: "Generation Kill is too skeptical about authority to entertain neocons or red-meat nationalists and too depressing to delight a good liberal.