Netflix documentary 'Oklahoma City Bombing: American Terror' marks 30th anniversary (2025)

Director Greg Tillman dedicated his new documentary "Oklahoma City Bombing: American Terror" to the 168 people, including 19 children, who died as a result of the April 19, 1995, tragedy, as well as "to all the people who tried to save them and to all the friends and family who miss them."

"I really never spent much time in Oklahoma before this show came along for me, and now I have. ... One of the things that really struck me when I went out there was everyone who was alive and in Oklahoma at the time of the bombing had a story to tell," Tillman told The Oklahoman.

"It was important for me to, at the end of the show, just acknowledge the fact that there's no way to tell this story completely. It's impossible. There's just too many people that were affected."

“Oklahoma City Bombing: American Terror" is premiering on Netflix Friday, April 18, one day before the 30th anniversary of the bombing, which remains the deadliest act of domestic terrorism in U.S. history.

"Clearly, this is an important story, I think, for the world — but definitely for Oklahoma City. ... You might expect this kind of attack in like New York City. But that's what makes the Oklahoma City story so amazing," said Tillman, who has worked on an array of reality and scripted television shows, feature films and documentaries.

"In a place that really never should have expected this kind of devastation to come slamming into their morning, you have all these people doing the exact opposite of what you might expect: They're not reacting in shocked horror and running away. They are all instantly ... trying to figure out a way to help."

What can viewers expect from the Netflix documentary 'Oklahoma City Bombing: American Terror?'

Produced by Tiller Russell, “Oklahoma City Bombing: American Terror" incorporates firsthand accounts from bombing survivors, first responders and law enforcement officers, along with crime scene recreations, archival footage and audio interviews with bomber Timothy McVeigh, who was executed by lethal injection on June 11, 2001.

"We made a deal with Lou Michel and Dan Herbeck, who did 75 hours of interviews with Timothy McVeigh after the bombing while he was in jail to write their book 'American Terrorist' about him," Tillman said. "So, we have a bunch of Timothy McVeigh's voice ... that's never been heard before."

With their roles reversed, Tillman and Russell previously collaborated on the Netflix documentary series "Waco: American Apocalypse." Their three-part examination of federal agents' deadly 1993 siege on the Branch Davidian religious sect's compound outside of Waco, Texas, debuted on the streaming service in 2023, in conjunction with the 30th anniversary of that tragedy.

McVeigh bombed the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in downtown OKC two years to the day after the Waco siege.

"Netflix came to us after we did the Waco series ... and they said, 'This seems like a good story to follow up that series, because there is some connection here.' In a lot of ways, McVeigh was motivated by what happened at Waco," Tillman said.

"Waco, in some ways, is the low point for the FBI ... but their response to the Oklahoma City bombing was one of their finest moments. Their response was an example of exactly what the FBI was designed to do, and, at its best, how effective it could be."

Instead of another docuseries, though, he said Netflix wanted a feature documentary on the OKC bombing.

"That's a little daunting, because now you're talking about squeezing all of this material into a short amount of time. But it's also a gift, because it really makes you think, 'All right, well, what is the essential way that we're going to do this?'" Tillman said.

"What we decided was, 'Let's tell the story ... from the moment that it starts for everyone — not McVeigh, but for everyone else — and that's when the bomb explodes.'"

Who is featured in Netflix’s 30th anniversary OKC bombing documentary?

To create a minute-by minute retelling of the bombing and its aftermath, Tillman and his team did dozens of interviews. "Oklahoma City Bombing: American Terror" features retired state trooper Charlie Hanger, who initially took McVeigh into custody during a routine traffic stop, along with then-federal agents Bob Ricks, Danny Coulson and Jon Hersley; local television journalists Robin Marsh and Jenifer Reynolds; and Oklahoma City Police Bomb Squad technician Mike McPherson.

Also featured is bombing survivor Amy Downs, who shared her story of being buried alive in the ruins of the nine-story building for more than six hours in the new National Geographic docuseries “Oklahoma City Bombing: One Day in America," too.

"Back then, what were the headlines? 'Terror in the Heartland.' It was like, 'This is Oklahoma.' ... It's alarming for everybody, for all of us, because we realized how vulnerable that we can be to something really bad happening," Downs told The Oklahoman in a recent interview.

"But I feel like the human spirit is strong. ... It is encouraging to all of us to see that we can get through hard things — and we do so much better when we come together to get through hard things."

For his Netflix documentary, Tillman said he was honored to have some people who had rarely shared their bombing experiences agree to interviews, including Dr. Carl Spengler, a resident in the University Hospital Emergency Medicine program who happened to be out for breakfast after working a 15-hour night shift and became the first physician at the scene of the explosion, and Renee Moore, whose 6-month-old son, Antonio Ansara Cooper Jr., was enrolled at the day care center inside the Murrah Building and died in the blast.

"I just can't be more grateful to people like her who were willing to sit down and talk with someone they didn't know and open up their hearts and be willing to go back to those moments that are just absolutely devastating," Tillman said. "It takes immense bravery."

The director said McVeigh's remorseless voice that haunts the film contrasts starkly with the compassionate interviews with so many Oklahomans who tried to help others in the wake of the bombing, even when they were suffering with their own immense grief.

"This is an incredible example of the devastation that can happen when hatred and divisiveness goes unchecked, and I think right now is a very important time for people to be thinking about that," Tillman said. "It also is a great example of the power of a community coming together in the face of this kind of hatred (and) divisiveness — and how powerful that can be."