Nina Gold is the casting director of Game of Thrones, The Crown, The King’s Speech and The Theory of Everything.
Jared Harris as Valery Legasov, scientist
One of the physicists who responded to the Chernobyl disaster.
Legasov demanded evacuation but was unsuccessful in coaxing officials to cancel the May Day Parade in Kiev. He claims political pressure censored the mention of Soviet nuclear secrecy in his report to International Atomic Energy Agency.
His health had been shattered and his career nosedived. He had unsuccessful suicide attempt in 1987. He was found hanged in his apartment in 1988, a day before he was due to present the results to the politburo. An important section of his recording was deliberately deleted shortly after his death.
In his Testament published after his death, He described the disaster as an “inevitable apotheosis” of the USSR’s economic system, according to the World Nuclear Association.
Stellan Skarsgard as Boris Shcherbina, Deputy Prime Minister
A Soviet politician who acted as vice-chairman of the Council of Ministers from 1984 to 1989. He died in Moscow in 1990, reason of death not released.
Paul Ritter as Anatoly Dyatlov, Supervisor
He supervised a test at Reactor 4, which led to the meltdown. In 1987, he was sentenced to 10 years in labour camp. He was let out on early release and died of heart failure in 1995.
Dyatlov wrote a book declared that he was a scapegoat and blamed the flawed design of the reactor. In later reports it was found that Dyatlov threatened to fire the workers if they didn't comply.
Con O’Neill as Viktor Bryukhanov, Plant director
Underestimated the radiation level, Bryukhanov had reported to Moscow that the reactor was still intact, which resulted in a delay in evacuation. He was sentenced to 10 years in prison but only served 5 years due to illness.
Adrian Rawlins as Nikolai Fomin, Chief Engineer
He kept pressing the staff to feed water to the reactor, causing short circuits in the cableways. He was sentenced to 10 years in labour camp. While in prison waiting for his trial, he attempted suicide.
The trial:
Sam Troughton as Aleksandr Akimov, shift supervisor of the night crew
Akimov opposed conducting the test but his superior Dyatlov threatened to fire him. He worked with his crew in the reactor overnight, trying to pump water into the exposed reactor.
Akimov died two weeks later due to ARS.
Adam Nagaitis as Vasily Ignatenko, a Pripyat firefighter and first responder arrived to extinguish the fire on the roof. He died 2 weeks later.
Jessie Buckley as Lyudmila Ignatenko, Vasily's wife
At first, she was told it was gas poisoning and was unaware of the danger of radiation. She took care of Vasily and other decomposing firefighters at radiation burn ward as nurses didn't want to approach them.
"They couldn't get shoes on him because his feet had swelled up. There wasn't a whole body to put it on,” she recounts in Voices of Chernobyl. Their baby girl Natasha died of cirrhosis and congenital heart disease 4 hours after birth.
Michael Colgan as Mikhail Shchadov, Coal Minister
In the show, Shchadov is a newbie. The real coal minister was experienced and had worked in coal since the age of 15 in Siberia.
Ralph Ineson as General Nikolai Tarakanov, commander of the Chernobyl liquidators.
He historically gave pep talk to more than 3,000 “liquidators” who had to clear the roof. He kept a binder of all the names and ranks of the men he sent to the roof, according to Adam Higginbotham, the author of Midnight in Chernobyl.
According to WHO, 28 liquidators died due to acute radiation sickness and they expect up to 4000 additional cancer deaths among those involved with the cleanup.
David Dencik as Mikhail Gorbachev
The last leader of the USSR before it was dismantled in 1991. His delayed response to the disaster was highly criticised. Today, Gorbachev, 88, still operates in Russia’s political circles. He won a Nobel prize in 1990 for putting an end to Cold War.
Valeri Bezpalov, Alexi Ananeko and Boris Baranov were part of the 'Suicide Squad' who entered the reactors chamber to release water.
Some said they all die shortly after. However, according to "Chernobyl 01:23:40" written by Andrew Leatherbarrow, all of them lived a long life. The water absorbed way more radiation than any expected which saved them.
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