Ducking in cover won’t save you in this new trailer for HBO’s Chernobyl

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Chernobyl (2019) | Official Trailer | HBO

HBO has released a substantial trailer for its upcoming miniseries Chernobyl, set to depict the “untold true story” of the 1986 catastrophe that saw the meltdown of a Soviet nuclear facility, and the subsequent quarantine and decimation of the Ukrainian town of Pripyat. 

Jared Harris, Stellan Skarsgård, and Emily Watson are set to star in the five-part series, which will premiere on HBO on May 6th. Keeping that post-Game of Thrones schedule nice and packed, it would seem.

The Chernobyl disaster has become mythic in its artistic depictions, ranging from attempts at realism to science-fiction and horror, so it almost comes as a surprise that it’s taken this long to see a “historic” approach taken with these kinds of production values. Clearly from the trailer fact can be more dramatic than fiction. It can be tough though, gripping an audience with facts rather than fanfare, especially when the event has already been blown out of proportion with… mutants and things. 

We shall see!