Netflix is set to release Unabomber, a 97-minute feature film directed by Janus Metz, on September 25, 2026. Starring Jacob Tremblay as Ted Kaczynski, Russell Crowe as Professor Henry Murray, and Shailene Woodley as an FBI agent, the crime drama blends a 1950s Harvard psychological study with a 1990s Montana manhunt.
Netflix is expanding its roster of true-crime dramas with a new feature film centering on Theodore John Kaczynski. Distributed globally by Netflix, Unabomber arrives on September 25, 2026, offering a narrative that skips a cradle-to-grave biography in favor of a dual-timeline structure.
The film explores Kaczynski’s early years as a mathematical prodigy at Harvard University alongside the protracted FBI investigation that ultimately located him in his Montana cabin. The project features a screenplay written by Sam Chalsen and Nelson Greaves, with Janus Metz directing the 97-minute production.
Harvard Experiments and the Cold War Background
The narrative anchors much of its psychological framing in Kaczynski’s undergraduate years, depicting a 16-year-old student entering Harvard University on a scholarship. There, he encounters Professor Henry Murray, played by Russell Crowe. Murray enlists the young student in a behavioral study funded by the U.S. government.
In the film’s depiction, these sessions involve Kaczynski sitting in a room debating another student, played by Gus Halper, who subjects him to aggressive personal attacks. The movie posits that these intense psychological pressures helped forge the anti-technology and anti-academic ideology that surfaced decades later. Historical records note that these experiments genuinely occurred as part of Cold War behavioral research designed to test breaking points.
“Subjected to controversial psychological experiments by Professor Henry Murray (Russell Crowe), Kaczynski’s troubled past resurfaces decades later when his manhunt, led by FBI agent Joanne Miller (Shailene Woodley), brings to light the chilling consequences of ambition and isolation.”
Official Logline
Critics have pointed out that Kaczynski himself downplayed the long-term impact of Murray’s tests in real life. Nevertheless, the film uses the campus environment to establish an early friction between the impressionable prodigy and the institutional machinery of the era.
The 1990s Manhunt and FBI Investigation
Intercut with the 1950s academic scenes is a procedural investigation set in the 1990s. Shailene Woodley stars as Joanne Miller, an FBI agent tasked with tracing the elusive bomber. The trailer opens in 1994, highlighting the aftermath of mail-bomb explosions that claimed the lives of three people while injuring twenty-three others across a nearly two-decade campaign.
The investigative timeline follows agents as they sift through documents and attempt to decode markers hidden within Kaczynski’s 35,000-word manifesto, Industrial Society and Its Future
, which was published in 1995. Reviewers have noted that the dual-narrative approach contrasts the intellectual breaking down of a young student with the methodical detective work required to track a recluse hiding in a remote cabin.
Cast and Production Details
The production is directed by Janus Metz, known for his work on Borg vs. McEnroe and episodes of the series Andor. Sophie Cassidy produced the feature for 2.0 Entertainment in association with MRC, with Donald J. Lee, Sam Chalsen, and Nelson Greaves serving as executive producers.
- Jacob Tremblay as Theodore John Kaczynski
- Russell Crowe as Professor Henry Murray
- Shailene Woodley as FBI agent Joanne Miller
- Annabelle Wallis in a supporting role
- Alexander Ludwig in a supporting role
- Steven Ogg in a supporting role
- Marc Menchaca in a supporting role
- Gus Halper as a fellow Harvard student
Rated R and running for 1 hour and 37 minutes, the film joins Netflix’s extensive true-crime catalog ahead of its global release date.
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