‘Unabomber’ trailer: Jacob Tremblay plays Ted Kaczynski in Netflix’s new true-crime drama

The Janus Metz-directed film follows Kaczynski’s transformation from a teenage Harvard prodigy into the domestic terrorist known as the Unabomber

Published - August 28, 2026 03:32 pm IST

A still from ‘Unabomber’ | Photo Credit: Netflix

Netflix has released the first trailer for Unabomber, starring Jacob Tremblay as Ted Kaczynski, the mathematician and domestic terrorist responsible for a nearly two-decade-long mail-bombing campaign in the United States. Directed by Janus Metz and written by Sam Chalsen and Nelson Greaves, the film will premiere globally on Netflix in September.

The film follows Kaczynski across two timelines. One begins in 1958, when the 16-year-old mathematical prodigy enters Harvard and comes under the influence of psychologist Henry Murray, played by Russell Crowe. The other follows the FBI investigation that eventually identifies Kaczynski as the Unabomber, with Shailene Woodley playing fictional FBI agent Joanne Miller, who leads the manhunt.

The trailer focuses heavily on Kaczynski’s time at Harvard and his involvement in Murray’s controversial psychological experiments. Murray subjected students to psychologically stressful interviews and experiments as part of his research, and the film uses Kaczynski’s experience as a key element in tracing his growing alienation from society. The story subsequently jumps forward to the FBI investigation surrounding the Unabomber’s attacks.

Tremblay, now 19, plays Kaczynski from his teenage years into the early stages of his radicalisation. The actor first became widely known for his performance in Room, for which he received a Critics’ Choice Award nomination and became one of the most prominent young actors of his generation. Unabomber gives him a significantly darker adult role, with the film charting the transformation of a gifted young student into one of the most notorious domestic terrorists in American history.

Russell Crowe plays Murray, whose relationship with Kaczynski becomes increasingly complicated as the experiments continue. Annabelle Wallis plays Christiana Morgan, a collaborator of Murray’s, while the ensemble also includes Alexander Ludwig, Steven Ogg and Marc Menchaca.

Metz has said that the film is interested in both the creation and capture of Kaczynski, with the two timelines gradually converging. The director was particularly drawn to Kaczynski’s Harvard years, which have received considerably less attention in popular accounts of the Unabomber case than the FBI investigation and the 1995 publication of his manifesto.

Unabomber premieres globally on Netflix on September 25, 2026.

Published - August 28, 2026 03:32 pm IST

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