Photo Credit: HBO
HBO’s Chernobyl may have ended but our curiosity lives on as we mull over what the series got right and where it veered away from the truth.
HBO’s Chernobyl has taken the world by storm by revisiting the devastating 1986 incident that changed the course of history forever. Before the HBO series, accounts of what happened before, during, and after the Chernobyl incident were conveyed through books, interviews, and journal entries. And while there have been movies and documentaries that have covered this event, showrunner and creator Craig Mazin has probably done it the most justice.
Not only did he go visit the actual site, but he fully immersed himself in this tragic story and made it his mission to learn all the history behind it. And given all the research he put into it, we can’t help but wonder what parts of the series were truthful to the history, and what parts were dramatized and/or fictional.
To better understand the true history of this disastrous incident, we’re diving into the HBO series and breaking down what actually happened versus what didn’t. And trust me when I say, you’ll be just as surprised as I was!
Photo Credit: HBO
Valery Legasov, Ulana Khomyuk, and Boris Shcherbina
These three individuals are an integral part of HBO’s Chernobyl. But were they real people during the actual crisis? Legasov, a nuclear scientist that was brought in to assess the situation and Shcherbina, the Soviet Deputy Prime Minister, were both indeed real people. Their involvement in the Chernobyl situation was depicted fairly accurately and both Jared Harris (Legasov) and Stellan Skarsgård (Shcherbina) did a stellar job with their portrayals.
And while these two men were part of the actual history, the character of Ulana Khomyuk was not, according to Newsweek. In fact, it was reported that this character represented”the dozens of scientists who helped investigate the crisis as it unfolded.” Can I just say Emily Watson did a fine job of representing the culmination of all those who came forward to give their help during the Chernobyl incident? Bravo, Watson!
Photo Credit: HBO
The fear, the terror, the death toll
April 26th, 1986 was a horrible, horrible day in our world history, and the days, months, and years that followed did not prove to be any easier for those affected. Of course, those who survived were forced to deal with the lasting effects of radiation, but many did not make it to see a future at all. And of course, the sheer terror that eventually overtook the surrounding areas was something no television series can ever really encapsulate.
In HBO’s retelling of the story, they managed to do a pretty accurate job showing how the general public reacted. One would think panic would break out almost immediately, but it didn’t, at all. In fact, a group of people watched the billowy smoke coming out from the plant as if they were just watching fireworks in the night sky. They had no idea what was going to be the consequence of their actions.
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No one was evacuated right away, in fact, it took more than a day to even get that going because those in charge didn’t think it was important enough to report to officials or the public. Just as happened in real life, the series covers this point very well as the residents of the town nearby are evacuated sometime later and it all feels eerily calm and lax.
The face of the people, so to speak, was Vasily Ignatenko, who was an actual firefighter that helped out during the crisis. In the show, we see Ignatenko’s rapid health decline because, like many others, he didn’t go in with any protection and was fully exposed to the radiation. As a result, he didn’t live long after the event.
Since the series couldn’t show every individual that suffered in a similar manner, they had Ignatenko represent all of them. He represents what happened to those that went headfirst into the radiation without any proper tools or protection.
According to a report released by Refinery29, about 600,000 people went in to clean up the mess and were all exposed to the dangerous radiation. The death toll from that number was about 4,000 people as a result of radiation cancer, and about 70,000 were left disabled.
R.I.P. to the unsung heroes who gave up their lives or suffered as a result of the Chernobyl incident.
Photo Credit: HBO
Did the cover-up actually happen?
In the final episode of the series, the focus is on the trial that followed the incident and shedding light on a cover-up orchestrated by higher-ranking officials. But did this actually happen? Just how much the Soviet government knew about the faulty reactors and the actual incident hasn’t been proven, but there was indeed a cover-up to hide whatever they could.
Chernobyl does a fantastic job of bringing this controversy to life with as much accuracy as they could. 1980s Soviet was a different time and place and during the incident, the blame was being passed around and pinned on anyone but the actual culprits.
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As you see in the finale, Legasov goes back and forth about how to present the truth or whether or not to tell it. Of course, he eventually does come forward but not exactly how it’s depicted in the show. Rather than a trial following the International Atomic Energy Agency meeting in Vienna, Legasov actually relays all the saddening details during the meeting. The series shows him coming clean at the trial after the meeting, which is not how it happened in real life.
Either way, the real Legasov was shunned from his community of peers and eventually took his life exactly two years after the Chernobyl incident, leaving behind a series of recorded tapes reflecting on the brutal events.
Side note: Legasov was not shown to have a family on the HBO series, however, he was married and had one child in real life.
Photo Credit: HBO
The Soviet environment, culture, and people
The biggest part of a series retelling an actual story is getting all the details right. Whether that’s the actual event it’s covering, depicting the environmental surroundings accurately, or making sure the culture and people are portrayed properly, it’s a lot to pin down. Chernobyl, however, does a stellar job of making sure it got everything right.
If you’ve listened to the Chernobyl podcast with showrunner Craig Mazin, then you already know how much research went into making everything as accurate as possible. It’s one of the biggest compliments the series has received which is largely in part due to the production team behind the series.
A lot of time and research went into examining what 1980s Pripyat, the Chernobyl plant (before and after), and the Soviet people looked like at the time. I have to say that this is one of the strongest and most on-point elements of the series versus real life. The attention to details on everything from the clothes to the various locations to the weapons used and even the people was unbelievable.
It was clear how much effort was put in to make everything authentic, and I have to commend HBO and Mazin for really bringing their A-game to telling the story as genuinely as possible.
Photo Credit: HBO
The courageous divers
Yes, that actually happened. Based on various accounts, men dove into the depths of the plant underground and just as the series illustrated, two of them are STILL alive. I’m not sure how that happened, but that’s a very jarring, celebratory fact. According to an interview Mazin did with Vox, he found out right before the shooting began that two of the three divers were still alive.
Initially, he planned on narrating that all three divers died weeks after they went underneath the plant, but when he learned this was not the case, he opted to tell the most accurate version of history. Bravo, Mazin! He really didn’t leave anything out, did he?
And there you have it! We’ve covered a fairly big chunk of the facts vs. fiction debate of HBO’s Chernobyl but I’m sure we’ve overlooked many others. If you spot anything missing, please don’t hesitate to share in the comments below! We’d love to learn more about this unfortunate incident and see what the series got right, wrong, or omitted entirely.
Catch the entire season of Chernobyl on HBO, HBO Go, and HBO Now!