Streaming service Netflix has released the first trailer for Unabomber, a biographical crime drama about American mathematician and terrorist Ted Kaczynski starring Canadian actor Jacob Tremblay.
The feature film is scheduled to premiere globally on Netflix on September 25, 2026.
The story covers two distinct time periods. One timeline focuses on Kaczynski's younger years, examining how a promising mathematical prodigy who studied at Harvard University became completely disillusioned with modern society, driving him to commit acts of terrorism. A parallel timeline details the investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation to track down and detain him.
Cast and production details
Canadian actor Jacob Tremblay, who previously starred in Room, Doctor Sleep, and The Life of Chuck, takes on the lead role as Kaczynski.
The film also stars Russell Crowe, whose filmography includes Gladiator, A Beautiful Mind, 3:10 to Yuma, Les Misérables, The Nice Guys, The Pope's Exorcist, and Nuremberg. Shailene Woodley, known for the Divergent franchise, The Fault in Our Stars, Misanthrope, and Ferrari, also appears in the drama.
Additional cast members include Annabelle Wallis, who appeared in Annabelle, The Mummy, Rebellion, and the television series The Tudors and Peaky Blinders, alongside Alexander Ludwig, known for The Hunger Games, Bad Boys for Life, Vikings, and The White Lotus.
Danish director Janus Metz Pedersen directed the movie. Pedersen is best known for his work on individual episodes of the television series True Detective and Andor.
Early life and academic career
Theodore Kaczynski was born in Chicago in 1942 to a family of Polish immigrants. He demonstrated an early aptitude for mathematics during childhood and graduated from high school ahead of schedule.
He went on to study at the University of Michigan and Harvard University. In 1967, at the age of 25, Kaczynski became an assistant professor at the University of California, Berkeley, one of the most prestigious higher education institutions in the United States.
Colleagues predicted a brilliant career for him in mathematics. However, in 1969, the 27-year-old mathematician abruptly resigned from his university position and disappeared.
Bombing campaign and manifesto
It later emerged that Kaczynski had become thoroughly disillusioned with modern civilization. He set a goal to return human society to a state of nature, choosing a radical method to achieve his objective.
From 1976 to 1995, Kaczynski sent a series of mail bomb packages to scientists and entrepreneurs whose work involved computers, airlines, or the exploitation of natural resources. The bombings killed three people and injured more than 20 others.
In 1995, Kaczynski convinced major media outlets to publish his manifesto, titled Industrial Society and Its Future, promising that he would cease his bomb attacks in exchange for publication.
Apprehension, trial, and imprisonment
Several months after the manifesto appeared in print, agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation tracked the terrorist down. His younger brother, David Kaczynski, turned him in after David's wife, Linda, recognized Ted's distinct writing style in the published document.
David's family received the promised 1 million dollar reward from the authorities, although he was not happy about receiving the money.
Federal agents located Kaczynski in a simple cabin in Montana that lacked modern amenities, where he had been surviving by hunting and fishing.
In 1997, a court declared Kaczynski to be schizophrenic and sentenced him to life imprisonment. He was held in solitary confinement at a maximum-security prison in Colorado until his death in June 2023.
