Image via HBO
Published Jan 30, 2026, 7:00 PM EST
Denis is a news writer for Collider. He has covered television for several years, starting with writing scripts for YouTube videos before transitioning to articles. He has reviewed shows across different genres. His favorite types of articles to write are exciting news updates about shows and episodic reviews of the same. He might say he doesn't have a favorite show, but he has watched The Wire, Shameless, The Big Bang Theory, and The Blacklist more than once. Find him on X tweeting about something random that occurred to him about a TV show or the industry.
Chernobyl, the hit 2019 HBO miniseries, is back on streaming charts seven years after its release. Data from FlixPatrol shows that the show's popularity on streaming services, especially on PVOD platforms like iTunes, is rising, making it one of the most sought-after shows. This resurgence is not surprising given its lasting legacy and reputation as one of the best HBO miniseries of the 2010s. It occasionally sees a jump in interest as new viewers discover it from recommendations or algorithms.
Chernobyl dramatizes one of the biggest disasters caused by humans ever: the Chernobyl nuclear catastrophe. It tells the story of the 1986 disaster that confirmed what people had feared the most regarding nuclear energy after a reactor exploded, bringing far-reaching consequences for the region. The tense thriller explores different perspectives, detailing how such a disaster occurred while showcasing the brave people who put their lives on the line to stop or mitigate the consequences. Its only season is rated 95% by critics on the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes and, in a rare turn, 97% by viewers. Chernobyl was created by Craig Mazin (The Last of Us), and was anchored by strong performances from Jared Harris (Valery Legasov), Stellan Skarsgård (Boris Shcherbina), Emily Watson (Ulana Khomyuk), Jessie Buckley (Lyudmilla Ignatenko), Adam Nagaitis (Vasily Ignatenko), Paul Ritter (Anatoly Dyatlov), Con O'Neill (Viktor Bryukhanov), Adrian Rawlins (Nikolai Fomin), and more.
What Makes 'Chernobyl' Such a Good Show?
The fact that events and some characters in the series are based on real people adds weight to the disaster. However, the miniseries creates a dread-filled atmosphere as a potential failure spirals into a catastrophe, turning into a devastating event whose effects are felt for decades. The show is heavy with criticism and hope, making it feel like an evergreen cautionary tale. It is also a performance and technical masterpiece. "Chernobyl is a series where you will have to remind yourself to unclench your jaw and untense your shoulders while watching it. It is heartbreaking and intense, and a hell of a thing to watch the day after Game of Thrones. But it’s also necessary," wrote Collider's Allison Keene when reviewing it in 2019. Mazin explained the show's main point in January of the same year, saying,
“To me, the cautionary tale here is bigger than just the nuclear power industry, or even the environment. The cautionary tale here is about what happens when people choose to ignore the truth. It doesn’t care, as it turns out – the truth does not care. The world gets hotter whether we agree with it or not, and that is something that I hope people can take away from the show – that in the end, we have choices about what we will or will not confront as true, but the truth does not care, and it will come to pass.”
Chernobyl is now streaming. Stay tuned to Collider for more updates.
Release Date 2019 - 2019
Network HBO
Showrunner Craig Mazin
Directors Johan Renck
Writers Craig Mazin
English (US) ·