First Look: Jacob Tremblay Transforms Into Ted Kaczynski in Netflix’s UNABOM

Jacob Tremblay Steps Into One Of America’s Darkest True-Crime Histories

Jacob Tremblay has been steadily proving that his early acclaim was not a one-film wonder, and Netflix’s first look at UNABOM finds the actor stepping into his darkest role yet.

The former child star, who broke through in the Oscar-winning 2015 drama Room, plays a young Ted Kaczynski in director Janus Metz’s forthcoming film. The new stills place Tremblay inside the Harvard years that helped shape one of the most infamous domestic terrorists in modern American history.

It is a sharp turn from the warmth and vulnerability that first introduced Tremblay to audiences, but that is exactly why the casting feels so compelling. He has grown up in front of the camera without becoming predictable, and this role asks him to carry intelligence, isolation and mounting darkness at the same time.

UNABOM Tracks Both The Making And Capture Of Ted Kaczynski

Inspired by true events, the film follows Kaczynski’s transformation from Harvard prodigy into the Unabomber, whose mail-bombing campaign terrorized the United States for nearly two decades.

Director Janus Metz has described the film as operating across two timelines: one tracing the making of the Unabomber and another following the long pursuit that led to his capture. That structure allows the film to examine both the young man becoming increasingly alienated from society and the consequences of the violence that followed.

Tremblay told Netflix’s Tudum that he had not realized Kaczynski attended Harvard before reading the script. “I didn’t even know he went to Harvard until I read the script; I think most people don’t,” he said. “But he was a mathematical genius when he was 16. It’s quite fascinating, actually.”

Russell Crowe Plays The Harvard Professor At The Center Of The Story

Russell Crowe co-stars as Henry Murray, the Harvard professor who subjected Kaczynski to controversial psychological experiments. The film frames that chapter as a crucial part of the young mathematician’s past, one that resurfaces decades later during the investigation into the bombings.

The cast also includes Shailene Woodley as FBI agent Joanne Miller, who leads the manhunt; Annabelle Wallis as Christiana Morgan, Murray’s academic partner and co-director of the Harvard Psychological Clinic; plus Alexander Ludwig, Steven Ogg and Marc Menchaca.

Netflix’s First Images Reveal The Film’s Harvard Years And FBI Hunt

First-look images from Netflix’s UNABOM feature Jacob Tremblay, Russell Crowe, Shailene Woodley and Annabelle Wallis.

The September Release Claim Is Not Yet Official

Netflix currently lists UNABOM as a 2026 release but has not announced a specific premiere date. That means the earlier September wording should not be treated as confirmed until Netflix publishes an official date.

What is confirmed is that Metz directs from a screenplay by Sam Chalsen and Nelson Greaves, with Sophie Cassidy producing for 2.0 Entertainment in association with MRC.

For Tremblay, the film represents another major step in a career that began with precocious brilliance and is now moving into far more complicated territory. The first images suggest he is not merely impersonating a notorious figure; he is searching for the intelligence, vulnerability and alienation that existed before the name became a national nightmare.

Source: Netflix Tudum and About Netflix.