It has been seven years since HBO released one of the best real-life dramas of the last two decades, and the influence of this ensemble show has only grown since 2019. HBO has done a lot to shape the modern media landscape. While the cable network’s entire brand is about to change with the arrival of HBO’s expensive *Harry Potter *reboot series, for decades, the cable network was the first name in mature, intelligent TV for adult viewers.
Starting with The Sopranos, Band of Brothers, Sex in the City, and Six Feet Under in the late ‘90s and early 2000s, HBO continued to impress with the brutal Western series Deadwood, the unforgettable crime drama epic The Wire, and the fantasy mega hit Game of Thrones. Even now, shows like HBO’s acclaimed satirical sitcom Hacks continue to prove that the network remains one of the leading voices in critically acclaimed TV writing.
That said, HBO has struggled to outdo the impact of one of the network’s best offerings ever since the show debuted in 2019. The real-life drama Chernobyl centered on the disaster that occurred in the titular nuclear power plant in 1986, with a sprawling ensemble cast that included engineers, scientists, local citizens, KGB members, and doctors tasked with saving survivors. A gripping exploration of a terrible tragedy, Chernobyl is as moving as it is unpredictable.
There are few shows that have managed to explore real-life disasters with the tact and grace that Chernobyl manages. It is worth noting that some of the show’s historical accuracy has been called into question, but like earlier hits such as 1997’s Titanic or 2014’s The Impossible, it is the show’s human drama that earned its acclaim as much as its historical veracity. With a massive ensemble cast that includes Jared Harris, Jessie Buckley, Emily Watson, Barry Keoghan, and James Cosmo, Chernobyl explores the disaster from a broad array of perspectives.
It is precisely the show’s wide outlook that ensures Chernobyl’s story feels immersive, lived-in, and appropriately tragic, rather than exploitative or tasteless. Compared to earlier attempts to explore Chernobyl on film, such as 2012’s inexcusable found footage horror Chernobyl Diaries, Chernobyl formulates an atmosphere of mounting dread and tension without ever losing sight of the humanity of the event’s victims. Chernobyl takes a clear-eyed look at those responsible for the disaster, but never defaults to lazy stereotyping or simplistic moralizing.
The show makes it clear that disastrous systemic mismanagement at every level was at fault for the tragedy, but also highlights the bravery of ordinary civilians in the relief efforts during the horrific catastrophe. In the years since Chernobyl’s successful 2019 release, the show’s legacy has cast a long shadow as many of its biggest players, in front of and behind the camera, have parlayed its success to even bigger hits.
Creator Craig Mazin went on to helm HBO’s acclaimed* The Last of Us *adaptation, bringing the same sense of realism to a fictional apocalypse with a similarly layered, morally complex story. Philip Barantini, who played the heroic volunteer Valery Bespalov, went on to co-create Netflix’s most popular show ever, Adolescence, with Stephen Graham. After playing Lyudmilla Ignatenko, the wife of Vasily Ignatenko, Buckley went on to win Best Actress at the Academy Awards in 2026 for her role as William Shakespeare’s wife Agnes in Hamnet.
Ulana Khomyuk’s actress Emily Watson also played a supporting role in Hamnet, while Keoghan has gone on to become a bona fide box office superstar in the years since Chernobyl thanks to acclaimed roles in everything from Saltburn to* The Banshees of Inisherin* to Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man. Thus, even over half a decade after Chernobyl’s well deserved critical success, the HBO show’s success is a gift that keeps on giving to the world of screen entertainment.
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