'Chernobyl' Trailer: HBO Has A Nuclear Meltdown In A New Five-Part Miniseries

Chernobyl is the most famous nuclear disaster in history, so much that the name itself is used as a moniker to describe any prospective nuclear accident in order to stress the gravity of the situation. Now HBO is giving the 1986 disaster the miniseries treatment with Jared Harris, Stellan Skarsgard and Emily Watson starring, and the first Chernobyl trailer has arrived.

On April 26, 1986, the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in Ukraine, Soviet Union suffered a massive explosion that released radioactive material across Belarus, Russia, and Ukraine and as far as Scandinavia and western Europe. Chernobyl will tell the story of the disaster and those who had to deal with the fallout. Even though there's not a whole lot of footage in this initial teaser trailer, this will likely be the kind of miniseries that will scoop up some Emmys for HBO when the time comes later this year.

Jared Harris (Mad Men) is playing Valery Legasov, the leading Soviet nuclear physicist who was part of the response team following the accident. Stellan Skarsgard (The Avengers) is Soviet Deputy Prime Minister Boris Shcherbina, the government official leading the commission on the Chernobyl incident. And Emily Watson (Punch-Drunk Love) is Ulana Khomyuk, a Soviet nuclear physicist trying to figure out what caused this situation.

The rest of the cast includes Paul Ritter (Lovesick) as Chernobyl deputy chief engineer Anatoly Dyatlov; Jessie Buckley (Beast) as Lyudmilla Ignatenko, a Pripyat resident married to a firefighter on the first response team; Adrian Rawlins (Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows) as Chernobyl chief engineer Nikolai Fomin; and Con O'Neill (Harlots) as plant director Viktor Bryukhanov. Sam Troughton (The Ritual), Adam Nagaitis (The Terror), Barry Keoghan (Dunkirk), Ralph Ineson (Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince), Mark Lewis Jones (Star Wars: Episode VIII – The Last Jedi), Fares Fares (Westworld), and David Densik (McMafia) also have supporting roles in the miniseries.

The five-episode miniseries is written and executive produced by Craig Mazin, the first foray into drama by The Hangover franchise writer. Johan Renck (Breaking Bad) is behind the camera as director. The HBO/Sky production is produced by Sister Pictures and The Mighty Mint and Black Mirror producer Sanne Wohlenberg. In addition, Carolyn Strauss (Game of Thrones) and Jane Featherstone (Broadchurch) serve as executive producers along with Johan Renck and Chris Fry (Humans) as co-executive producers.

Chernobyl begins on May 6, 2019, only on HBO.