Chernobyl drama with Jared Harris to film in Lithuania

The first high-end TV drama co-production between Sky and HBO is a mini-series based on the real-life nuclear plant disaster at Chernobyl which will film in Lithuania next spring.

Simply called Chernobyl, the five-parter comes from the UK’s Sister Pictures and The Mighty Mint and will star Jared Harris as Valery Legasov, the Soviet scientist chosen by the Kremlin to investigate the accident.

The series will dramatise one of the worst man-made catastrophes in history that occurred in Ukraine in April 1986, resulting in a massive fallout of radioactive material onto much of the western USSR and Europe.

Craig Maizin, who wrote The Huntsman: Winter’s War, has penned the series, which is the first big-scale drama to be greenlit under Sky and HBO’s $250m multi-year co-production deal.

Kary Antholis, president of HBO miniseries and CINEMAX programming, said: “From the moment Craig Mazin pitched us the story, we were convinced that this all-too-true tale of horror and redemption needed to be told. It will engage – and enrage – our viewers, as well as audiences around the world.”

Lithanunia’s filming profile has been rising in recent years, with high-profile, big-budget dramas such as the BBC/Weinstein Company’s War and Peace basing production there. The country offers a 20% filming incentive and a wide range of varied and historic locations.