Netflix’s Unabomber tells the story of Ted Kaczynski across two timelines, one following him as a Harvard prodigy in the 1950s, the other following the FBI agents who spent years hunting him down in the 1990s. It premiered on September 25, 2026, and shot straight to number one on Netflix’s global chart, even as critics tore into it, Rotten Tomatoes currently has it sitting around 22 to 23 percent. Netflix bills it as a drama “inspired by true events,” not a documentary, and that distinction matters here: some of the people on screen are real historical figures, and some are invented or composite characters built for the story. Here is who is who, and where the real people ended up.
Is Unabomber Based on a True Story?
Yes, in part. Ted Kaczynski, Henry Murray, and Christiana Morgan were real people, and the Harvard psychological experiments depicted in the film really happened. FBI agent Joanne Miller, however, is explicitly identified in Netflix’s own cast guide as a fictionalized character, and the agents around her appear to be fictionalized or composite as well. The film takes further dramatic liberties on top of that, several critics have specifically flagged its portrayal of Kaczynski’s psychology as more definitive than what is actually known.
The Real People Behind Unabomber
Ted Kaczynski, played by Jacob Tremblay
Kaczynski was a mathematics prodigy who entered Harvard at 16 in 1958. He went on to carry out a 17-year bombing campaign, targeting universities and airlines, that killed three people and injured 23 between 1978 and 1995. He was identified and arrested in 1996 after The Washington Post and The New York Times published his manifesto, “Industrial Society and Its Future,” at the FBI’s request. He pleaded guilty in 1998 and was sentenced to four life terms.
Current status: Deceased. Kaczynski died by suicide on June 10, 2023, at the Federal Medical Center in Butner, North Carolina, where he had been transferred for declining health. An autopsy found he had stage 4 rectal cancer. He was 81.
Professor Henry Murray, played by Russell Crowe
Murray was a real Harvard psychologist who directed the Harvard Psychological Clinic and co-created the Thematic Apperception Test. Between 1959 and 1962, he led a series of stress experiments, since widely criticized as unethical, in which student volunteers, Kaczynski among them, were subjected to hostile, deliberately demeaning interrogations while their reactions were filmed.
Current status: Deceased. Murray died on June 23, 1988, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, at age 95, more than three decades before the events of the film were dramatized on screen.
Christiana Morgan, played by Annabelle Wallis
Morgan was a lay psychoanalyst and artist who co-directed the Harvard Psychological Clinic alongside Murray and co-created the Thematic Apperception Test with him. The two also had a decades-long personal relationship that ran alongside both of their marriages.
Current status: Deceased. Morgan drowned in 1967 at age 69 while on a trip with Murray in the U.S. Virgin Islands. Some biographers have raised the possibility that her death was a suicide, though it is officially recorded as a drowning.
The Fictionalized Characters in Unabomber
FBI Agent Joanne Miller, played by Shailene Woodley
Miller leads the manhunt storyline set in 1995 San Francisco. According to Netflix’s own cast guide, she is not a real FBI agent but a fictionalized character created to anchor the investigation side of the film.
Current status: Not applicable. Miller is a fictional character, not based on a specific named investigator from the real UNABOM Task Force.
Dean Kaplan, played by Steven Ogg
Kaplan is depicted as the special agent in charge of the FBI’s UNABOM task force and Miller’s boss. Netflix has not identified him as based on a specific real official.
Current status: Not applicable. Treated here as a fictionalized or composite character pending any official confirmation otherwise.
Leo Driver, played by Alexander Ludwig
Driver is written as a hotheaded fellow agent who partners with Miller on the ground, including stakeouts of newsstands hoping to catch Kaczynski buying copies of his published manifesto.
Current status: Not applicable. Fictionalized or composite character.
Eddie Turrell, played by Marc Menchaca
Turrell is another agent on Miller’s team working the case in the film’s 1995 timeline.
Current status: Not applicable. Fictionalized or composite character.
Unabomber Cast at a Glance
| Actor | Character | Real or Fictionalized | Current Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jacob Tremblay | Ted Kaczynski | Real | Died June 10, 2023 |
| Russell Crowe | Henry Murray | Real | Died June 23, 1988 |
| Annabelle Wallis | Christiana Morgan | Real | Died 1967 |
| Shailene Woodley | Joanne Miller | Fictionalized | Not applicable |
| Steven Ogg | Dean Kaplan | Fictionalized | Not applicable |
| Alexander Ludwig | Leo Driver | Fictionalized | Not applicable |
| Marc Menchaca | Eddie Turrell | Fictionalized | Not applicable |
Where Unabomber Stands Right Now
Despite the reviews, Unabomber hit number one on Netflix’s global chart within a day of its release, according to streaming analytics site FlixPatrol. Rotten Tomatoes currently lists the film in the low 20s among critics, with the film being criticized specifically for presenting a disputed theory about Kaczynski’s psychology as settled fact. It remains one of Netflix’s most-watched titles this week even as its Rotten Tomatoes score continues to be one of its worst.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Joanne Miller a real FBI agent?
No. Netflix’s own cast guide identifies her as a fictionalized character created for the film.
How did Ted Kaczynski really die?
He died by suicide on June 10, 2023, in a federal prison medical facility in Butner, North Carolina, shortly after being diagnosed with late-stage cancer.
Was the Harvard experiment in the film real?
Yes. Kaczynski was a subject in a real, later-criticized set of psychological stress experiments led by Professor Henry Murray at Harvard between 1959 and 1962.
Is Unabomber a documentary?
No. Netflix classifies it as a drama inspired by true events. A separate 2020 Netflix documentary series, Unabomber: In His Own Words, covers the case in nonfiction form.