TV SERIES · 2019–2019 · UK
Chernobyl
- Created by
- Craig Mazin
- Network
- HBO
- Seasons
- 1
- Episodes
- 5
- Studio
- SISTER, The Mighty Mint, Word Games
35 archived facts 4 topics 1 source Last reviewed Sep 2026
The true story of one of the worst man-made catastrophes in history: the catastrophic nuclear accident at Chernobyl. A tale of the brave men and women who sacrificed to save Europe from unimaginable disaster.
Summary: TMDB
All facts (35)
- #001
Craig Mazin interviewed nuclear scientists to learn how a reactor works, as well as former Soviet citizens to better understand the culture in 1986.
- #002
Mazin read several first-person accounts to add authenticity to the story.
- #003
Mazin said the story came alive in the individual accounts of people who lived near the plant, worked there, or were sent to clean it up.
- #004
Craig Mazin has said his interest in creating Chernobyl began with a wish to write about how people are struggling with the global war on the truth.
- #005
Craig Mazin has said another inspiration for Chernobyl was that he knew the plant had exploded but did not know why, which he described as an inexplicable gap in his knowledge.
- #006
Craig Mazin has said that reading about the disaster out of intellectual curiosity led him to the stories of people who lived through it, suffered and sacrificed to save those they loved, their countrymen and a continent.
- #007
Craig Mazin has said the lesson of Chernobyl is not that modern nuclear power is dangerous but that lying, arrogance and suppression of criticism are dangerous.
- #008
In preparation for Chernobyl, Craig Mazin visited the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone.
- #009
Craig Mazin decided early on that the cast of Chernobyl would not use Russian or Ukrainian accents, instead having the actors speak in their natural accents.
- #010
Craig Mazin said he avoided the clichéd Russian accent because it can easily become comic, and that after roughly one or two auditions he set a new rule against accents, since actors would act the accent rather than the role.
- #011
Craig Mazin cast no American actors in Chernobyl, as he believed that could pull the audience out of the story.
- #012
In early 2017, Carolyn Strauss joined Chernobyl as a producer and pitched the series with Craig Mazin to HBO's Kary Antholis.
- #013
According to Kary Antholis, the pitch for Chernobyl was the best he had heard in 25 years of listening to pitches.
- #014
Viewership expectations for Chernobyl stayed low during development, and the series was ultimately given a Monday night time slot.
- #015
Kary Antholis persuaded Sky UK to co-produce Chernobyl, reducing HBO's share of the show's $40 million budget to about $15 million.
- #016
On July 26, 2017, HBO and Sky announced a series order for Chernobyl, marking HBO's first co-production with Sky UK.
- #017
Chernobyl is a five-episode miniseries written by Craig Mazin and directed by Johan Renck.
- #018
Craig Mazin executive produced Chernobyl alongside Carolyn Strauss and Jane Featherstone, while Chris Fry and Johan Renck served as co-executive producers.
- #019
Chernobyl was announced on March 11, 2019, to premiere on May 6, 2019, and on June 4, 2019, Craig Mazin released the original scripts of all episodes as downloadable PDFs.
- #020
A companion podcast for Chernobyl released new episodes alongside each episode's HBO broadcast.
- #021
The Chernobyl companion podcast consisted of conversations between Craig Mazin and host Peter Sagal.
- #022
In the Chernobyl podcast, Craig Mazin and Peter Sagal discussed which parts of the show were as true as possible to historical events and which were consolidated or changed as artistic license.
- #023
Jared Harris was confirmed to star in Chernobyl at the same time the series was initially announced.
- #024
On March 19, 2018, Stellan Skarsgård and Emily Watson were announced as additions to the main cast of Chernobyl, their second project together following Breaking the Waves.
- #025
In May 2018, Paul Ritter, Jessie Buckley, Adrian Rawlins, and Con O'Neill were announced as cast members of Chernobyl.
- #026
Principal photography on Chernobyl began in Lithuania in April 2018.
- #027
Filming on Chernobyl started on May 13, 2018, in Fabijoniškės, a residential district of Vilnius, Lithuania, which stood in for the Ukrainian city of Pripyat because the district kept an authentic Soviet atmosphere.
- #028
An area of densely built panel housing apartments in Lithuania served as a location for Chernobyl's evacuation scenes.
- #029
Director Johan Renck heavily criticised the many diverse and eye-catching modern windows in the houses used for Chernobyl, but was not concerned about removing them in post-production.
- #030
In early June 2018, Chernobyl's production shifted to Ukraine for minor final scenes, and the series' filming lasted 16 weeks in total.
- #031
Chernobyl had a reported production budget of $40 million, forming part of a $250 million deal between HBO and Sky.
- #032
According to series cinematographer Jakob Ihre, the visual style of Chernobyl drew inspiration from Soviet-era films including Andrei Rublev, Stalker and Come and See.
- #033
The musical score for Chernobyl was composed by Icelandic composer Hildur Guðnadóttir.
- #034
For the Chernobyl score, Hildur Guðnadóttir used recordings from the power plant and chose not to rely on instruments or pre-recorded material, wanting to capture a listener's experience of being inside a power plant.
- #035
The original Chernobyl score album was released by Deutsche Grammophon and WaterTower Music on May 31, 2019, with a vinyl edition following from Decca Records on September 6, 2019.
Continue through the archive
Sources & editorial notes
Reference databases
Sources for the entries on this page
- Wikipedia Chernobyl (miniseries) — Wikipedia
Information from external sources is independently selected, consolidated and edited by Arka Evren. Sources are listed for verification and further reading. Encyclopedia text is used under its licence (CC BY-SA). How we work