Netflix’s ‘UNABOMBER’ Explores Ted Kaczynski’s Harvard Years and FBI Manhunt

Netflix’s new crime drama ‘UNABOMBER’ explores the transformation of Ted Kaczynski from a teenage mathematical prodigy at Harvard into the notorious domestic terrorist, while following the FBI investigation that eventually led to his capture.

Directed by Janus Metz and written by Sam Chalsen and Nelson Greaves, the film stars Jacob Tremblay as young Kaczynski, with Russell Crowe portraying Harvard psychologist Henry Murray and Shailene Woodley playing FBI agent Joanne Miller. Annabelle Wallis, Alexander Ludwig, Steven Ogg and Marc Menchaca also feature in the cast. The film premiered on Netflix on September 25, 2026.

The story moves between Kaczynski’s Harvard years in the late 1950s and the FBI’s pursuit of the Unabomber decades later. A key part of the film focuses on Murray’s controversial psychological experiments involving the young Kaczynski. Netflix describes the narrative as examining both “the making” and “the capture” of the Unabomber.

The real Kaczynski conducted a nearly two-decade bombing campaign that killed three people and injured 23 others. The film uses that history as the backdrop for a psychological crime drama rather than a documentary-style account.

Early reviews have been mixed. The Daily Beast praised the film’s suspense and psychological elements, while TheWrap criticised its divided narrative and described the film as unfocused. Radio Times gave it three out of five stars, calling it an incomplete but watchable treatment of Kaczynski’s story.

On Rotten Tomatoes, the film is currently listed at 46% from critics and 37% from audiences, although the site's individual title page is still showing review-count inconsistencies as ratings are being processed.

With its focus on Kaczynski’s formative years, controversial Harvard experiments and the subsequent manhunt, ‘UNABOMBER’ offers a dramatized look at one of the most notorious criminal cases in modern US history.