First look at Russell Crowe’s Unabomber movie as Netflix sets release date

Netflix has dropped a first look at its upcoming crime drama Unabomber, which is headlined by Russell Crowe and Jacob Tremblay. Because it’s 2026 and we’ve apparently run out of cheerful stories, this one dives into the early days of Ted Kaczynski and follows him all the way to his infamous manhunt as the country’s most notorious mail-bomber.

“UNABOMBER is a story about a young man who feels increasingly disenfranchised by society and decides to take up violence as a means of revenge,” director Janus Metz explained to Tudum. “We crosscut between two timelines, roughly speaking: the making of the Unabomber and the capture of the Unabomber.”

Netflix has circled 25 September 2026 for the worldwide premiere, which means there’s time for everyone to brush up on their criminal psychology, or failing that, just rewatch Mindhunter for the twentieth time.

The Story and Structure

The film promises to take viewers from Kaczynski’s Harvard years—back when he was merely an awkward prodigy—through to his evolution into a full-blown domestic terrorist. Key to this transformation, apparently, are the controversial psychological experiments run by Professor Henry Murray, who gets rather a lot of screen time courtesy of Russell Crowe. The film claims Kaczynski was put through more than 200 hours of Murray’s research while at Harvard, so don’t expect this bit to be glossed over in a montage.

Decades later, as the story hopscotches between timelines, the plot shifts to the manhunt: Shailene Woodley plays FBI agent Joanne Miller, leading the charge to find the Unabomber, while old wounds from Kaczynski’s past start cropping up for everyone involved.

The Cast and Crew

• Russell Crowe as Professor Henry Murray (the actual “mad scientist” in the room)
• Jacob Tremblay as young Ted Kaczynski
• Shailene Woodley as agent Joanne Miller (responsible for the hunt)
• Annabelle Wallis as Christiana Morgan (Murray’s partner-in-academia)
• Alexander Ludwig, Steven Ogg, Marc Menchaca round out the supporting cast

The whole thing is directed by Janus Metz, who’s been around the prestige telly block before—he’s done bits for Andor, True Detective, and films like All the Old Knives and Borg vs. McEnroe. The screenplay is a tag-team affair between Sam Chalsen and Nelson Greaves. Production comes from Sophie Cassidy at 2.0 Entertainment, with Donald J. Lee and the writers themselves executive producing.

Unabomber premieres globally on Netflix on 25 September 2026.