Netflix has released the official trailer for UNABOMBER, an upcoming true-crime drama starring Jacob Tremblay, Russell Crowe and Shailene Woodley that explores both the making of Ted Kaczynski and the massive FBI investigation that eventually brought him down.
Directed by Janus Metz, the film follows Kaczynski’s transformation from a 16-year-old Harvard prodigy into the domestic terrorist responsible for a decades-long bombing campaign. Tremblay portrays the young Kaczynski, while Crowe plays controversial Harvard psychology professor Henry Murray and Woodley stars as FBI agent Joanne Miller, who leads the investigation closing in on him.
The film arrives on Netflix September 25, 2026.
Watch The UNABOMBER Official Trailer
UNABOMBER moves between two periods of Kaczynski’s life, connecting his experiences as a gifted young Harvard student with the years-long FBI investigation into the Unabomber.
Metz describes the structure as two intersecting timelines — one concerned with the making of the Unabomber and another with his eventual capture. The director was particularly drawn to Kaczynski’s little-known years as a teenage mathematics student at Harvard and the controversial psychological experiments conducted there.
The approach gives UNABOMBER something more ambitious to explore than a conventional manhunt thriller. Rather than beginning with an infamous criminal whose history audiences already know, the film examines the earlier experiences that preceded his turn toward violence while simultaneously showing investigators attempting to identify the person behind the attacks.
Jacob Tremblay Plays A Young Ted Kaczynski
Tremblay takes on the central role of young Ted Kaczynski, who entered Harvard at just 16 years old.
During his time at the university, Kaczynski participated in psychological experiments overseen by Professor Henry Murray, played in the film by Crowe. Those experiences become part of the movie’s examination of Kaczynski’s increasing alienation and isolation.
Tremblay told Netflix that he approached Kaczynski as a real person rather than attempting to imitate the infamous figure he would eventually become. The actor also drew on his own experience of entering an adult professional environment at a young age to understand some of Kaczynski’s early feelings of not fitting in.
Decades later, the second half of the story follows the enormous effort to identify and capture the Unabomber.
Woodley’s Joanne Miller becomes one of the central figures in that investigation, refusing to abandon her instincts as the FBI attempts to bring one of the longest manhunts in its history to an end.
Who Stars In UNABOMBER?
Alongside Tremblay, Crowe and Woodley, UNABOMBER features Annabelle Wallis as Christiana Morgan, Murray’s academic partner and co-director of the Harvard Psychological Clinic.
The ensemble also includes Alexander Ludwig, Steven Ogg and Marc Menchaca.
Metz directs from a screenplay by Sam Chalsen and Nelson Greaves. Sophie Cassidy produces for 2.0 Entertainment in association with MRC, with Donald J. Lee, Chalsen and Greaves serving as executive producers.
When Does UNABOMBER Premiere On Netflix?
UNABOMBER premieres September 25, 2026 exclusively on Netflix.
The R-rated drama runs 1 hour and 38 minutes and is categorized by Netflix as a psychological, suspenseful true-crime thriller inspired by real events.
With Tremblay portraying Kaczynski before he became one of America’s most notorious criminals, Crowe playing a controversial figure from his Harvard years and Woodley anchoring the investigation decades later, UNABOMBER is positioned to examine both sides of a story whose ending is already well known.
The official trailer offers the first substantial look at how those two timelines will collide.
Thomas Miller is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Seat42F, covering television, movies and streaming entertainment. He launched Seat42F in 2007 and has spent nearly two decades covering the entertainment industry.
