12 Movies Like Chernobyl You Need to Watch
Find gripping disaster dramas, documentaries, and true stories with 12 picks fans of Chernobyl can stream next, from The Days to Mr. Jones and more.
If you want movies like Chernobyl, the best picks usually share the same tense mix of real history, human error, and moral pressure. This page brings together 12 titles that move from harrowing drama to sharp documentary work, including Chernobyl (2019), The Days (2023), Chernobyl: The Lost Tapes (2022), and The Chernobyl Disaster (2022). You will also find true-story driven choices such as Mr. Jones (2019) and Radioactive Emergency (2026), plus survival and disaster stories like Radioflash (2019) and Alive (2019). Some lean into biography, some into thriller territory, and others stay close to the facts, but all of them deliver the same uneasy pull that makes this subject so compelling.
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01
Chernobyl: Abyss
drama · history
The aftermath of a shocking explosion at the Chernobyl nuclear power station made hundreds of people sacrifice their lives to clean up the site of the catastrophe and to successfully prevent an even bigger disaster that could have turned a large part of the European continent into an uninhabitable exclusion zone. This is their story.
Directed by Danila KozlovskiyCast Danila Kozlovskiy, Oksana Akinshina, Filipp Avdeev, Ravshana Kurkova, Igor ChernevichFreevee -
02
The Days
drama · history · thriller
Blamed by some, hailed as heroes by others, those involved with Fukushima Daiichi face a deadly, invisible threat an unprecedented nuclear disaster.
Directed by Masaki Nishiura, Hideo NakataCast Kōji Yakusho, Hao Feng, Nobi Nakanishi, Minae Noji, Yutaka TakenouchiNetflix -
03
Chernobyl: The Lost Tapes
documentary · history
Newly-discovered archive footage and witness accounts to lay bare the tragedy and heroic efforts made to prevent another explosion.
Directed by James JonesCast Ronald Reagan, Mikhail GorbachevMax -
04
The Chernobyl Disaster
documentary
A dramatic and detailed 3-part documentary series that reveals the events that led to the 1986 nuclear accident.
Directed by Stuart StricksonCast Ben FogleAmazon Prime VideoFreevee -
05
Mr. Jones
biography · drama · thriller
In 1933, Welsh journalist Gareth Jones travels to Ukraine, where he experiences the horrors of a famine. Everywhere he goes he meets henchmen of the Soviet secret service who are determined to prevent news about the catastrophe from getting out. Stalin’s forced collectivisation of agriculture has resulted in misery and ruin—the policy is tantamount to mass murder.
Directed by Agnieszka HollandCast James Norton, Vanessa Kirby, Peter Sarsgaard, Joseph Mawle, Kenneth CranhamAmazon Prime VideoHulu -
06
Radioflash
drama · sci-fi · thriller
When a nuclear device causes an electromagnetic pulse that kills power to more than 200 million people, a teenage girl must help lead her family to survival in a dark new world.
Directed by Ben McPhersonCast Brighton Sharbino, Dominic Monaghan, Will Patton, Fionnula Flanagan, Miles AndersonAMC+ -
07
Radioactive Emergency
drama · history · thriller
In 1987 Brazil, scavengers discover a mysterious glowing substance in an abandoned hospital. As the material changes hands, scientists and doctors desperately work to prevent a radioactive disaster from claiming countless lives.
Directed by Fernando Coimbra, Iberê CarvalhoCast Johnny Massaro, Paulo Gorgulho, Bukassa Kabengele, Tuca Andrada, Ana CostaNetflix -
08
Alive
documentary · drama · mystery & thriller · science-fiction
Survivors tell their stories of how they made it through some of the worst disasters.
Cast Jeong Seon-yulPeacock Premium -
09
Atomic Twister
action · drama · sci-fi · thriller
When tornadoes hit a nuclear power plant, critically damaging the plant's cooling system, the results could be catastrophic. Atomic Twister, a countdown to disaster, traces an extraordinary day in the lives of small town citizens who unexpectedly find themselves facing the possibility of mass destruction.
Directed by Bill CorcoranCast Sharon Lawrence, Mark-Paul Gosselaar, Carl Lewis, Jonathan Blick, Daniel CostelloFreevee -
10
The Ipcress File
drama · thriller
As the Cold War rages, ex-smuggler turned reluctant spy Harry Palmer finds himself at the centre of a dangerous undercover mission, on which he must use his links to find a missing British nuclear scientist.
Directed by James WatkinsCast Joe Cole, Lucy Boynton, Tom Hollander, Ashley Thomas, Paul HigginsAMC+ -
11
The Blackout
action · sci-fi · thriller
Contact between most towns on Earth has been severed. A small ring-like area in Eastern Europe still has electricity, and maybe even life is being reported from space. What military forces find outside the ring is shocking.
Directed by Egor BaranovCast Aleksey Chadov, Pyotr Fyodorov, Svetlana Ivanova, Lukerya Ilyashenko, Kseniya KutepovaAmazon Prime VideoFreevee -
12
Risen
drama · sci-fi · thriller
Disaster unfolds when a meteor strikes a small town, turning the environment uninhabitable and killing everything in the surrounding area. Exobiologist Lauren Stone is called to find answers to the unearthly event. As she begins to uncover the truth, imminent danger awakens and it becomes a race against time to save mankind.
Directed by Eddie AryaCast Zahlee Moore, Izzy Bridger, Lily Brown Griffiths, Dominic Stone, Jay KallawayAmazon Prime Video
Wrapping Up
Whether you want a fact-based account, a political drama, or a tense survival story, this collection gives you plenty of strong follow-ups to explore. Each title offers a different angle on crisis, consequence, and resilience, so it is easy to find the one that fits your mood. Bookmark this page and come back whenever you want another serious, gripping watch. We update it regularly, so the list stays fresh as new releases and documentaries arrive.
Frequently Asked Questions
What makes these movies similar to Chernobyl?
These picks were matched by tone, themes, and story style using a similarity model trained on plot synopses, genres, and cast — not just shared genre tags — so the connection runs deeper than a simple category match.
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Last updated: September 9, 2026