Robert De Niro is the latest movie star to make his way from the big screen to the small screen in the newest Netflix thriller, Zero Day. All six episodes are now streaming on the platform.

I’m always game for a good political thriller, comedy, or drama. Whether it’s Lincoln, Dave, or Wag the Dog, I’m sure to tune in. I sat down to watch Zero Day last week–following the Thursday Night Massacre–and thankfully, it kept my attention. With a six-episode run, it was just long enough to keep my attention and focus. Episodes run anywhere from 43-58 minutes. Of course, this is the type of show where you might sit down for one or two episodes and the next thing you know, you’re already halfway through. That’s just how riveting it is! Things progress so speedily that you want to see what’s going to happen next in the investigation.

In retirement and writing his memoirs from his Hudson estate, former U.S. President George Mullen (Robert De Niro) is now tasked with leading the Zero Day Commission following a devastating cyber attack in the United States. A few thousand people have lost their lives and it’s up to the task force to get to the bottom of it. Much like the real world, there is no shortage of disinformation impeding the investigation. Behind the scenes, Big Tech, Wall Street, and government leaders are also getting in the way. He owes it to President Evelyn Mitchell (Angela Bassett) and the entire country to get it right.

But even as Mullen has a grasp on things, his own past is coming back to bite him in the tuchas. Is it age or is he possibly the victim of some sort of neurological attack? He served a single term as president by choice and as the show starts, he’s been retired for 12 years. Meanwhile, his daughter, Alexandra (Lizzy Caplan), has sought to distance herself from his shadow as a congresswoman. Alexandra joins the Zero Day Commission Oversight Committee but good luck trying to get her or anyone else, really, to rein in her father before he finishes the investigation. The elder Mullen is going to see it through to the very end.

While the likes of Wolf Blitzer, Nicole Wallace (wife of co-creator Michael S. Schmidt), and Savannah Guthrie have cameos, the TV host serving as Zero Day‘s antagonist is Evan Green (Dan Stevens). The right-wing podcast journalist really has it out for both Mullen and the commission. I’d say more about him but then you’re getting into spoiler territory.

There are all sorts of things going on in Zero Day and as the investigation digs deeper, it brings about more questions of trust. On one end of the coin, Sheila Mullen (Joan Allen) would prefer that her husband work with former chief of staff Valerie Whitesell (Conie Britton) rather than the president’s trusted fixer, Roger Carlson (Jesse Plemons). On the other end of the coin, Silicon Valley billionaire Monica Kidder wants to be part of the investigation. Kidder could easily stand in for some of the biggest names in technology right now. Another billionaire in the picture is Robert Lyndon (Clark Gregg).

Surprisingly, this is not the first TV series to feature De Niro in a substantial role. It is the first in which he both stars and execuive produces. He had a recurring role in the 5-episode Nothing (Nada) on Disney+ and Star. But given that the 2023 series is a half-hour series, it’s probably a good bet Zero Day provides the actor with meatier material that should see him rewarded with an Emmy nomination.

What might surprise audiences is that Zero Day does not come from any of the usual suspects. Two of the three co-creators come from the world of news rather than narrative TV or film. Noah Oppenheim is the former president of NBC News while Michael S. Schmidt is a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist for The New York Times. The roots for the series date back to a socially distanced golf outing where Schmidt and Oppenheim discussed the work in journalism. According to production notes, it ultimately “led to the idea to invent a fictional narrative; a composite of everything they had written, and everything they wished that they had been able to write.” Enter Eric Newman and the rest is history.

I touched on trust earlier and President Mullen wanting to get to the bottom of the truth in Zero Day. Oppenheim expands on truth and what it represents in the production notes.

“The biggest theme that the series explores is the question of truth and how elusive truth can be, particularly in our world today,” Oppenheim says. “We have a character at the center of the story who’s struggling with their grip on reality; you’ve got a country that’s struggling to understand what has happened; you’ve got various voices, some quite loud, who are sowing confusion over what is true and what is not true. The show also looks at the theme of power and the cost of power; those who are asked to take on these enormous challenges, what it means for them personally, and what it means for their families.”

Behind the scenes, director Lesli Linka Glatter is no stranger to thrillers, having helmed 25 episodes of Homeland. Her filmography also includes The West Wing, Mad Men, ER, etc. Given her background, she’s absolutely perfect for directing a show of this nature. I was mesmerized alone by the six episodes and that’s not possible without excellent directing on top of the acting and stupendous writing. It should come as no shock that Glatter turned to the great paranoid thrillers of the 1970s for inspiration. Turning to those films is a no-brainer by this point.

As far as the series itself as a whole, the idea of a cyber attack might be horrifying but it’s not so far-fetched. There’s a larger conversation to be had about this, of course. But as scary as the Zero Day event may be, the real world is scarier at the moment, especially with an active coup taking place at the White House.

Zero Day is a gripping must-watch political thriller that is sure to have audiences on the edge of their seats. If we’re in a new pinnacle of paranoid political thrillers, maybe that’s not a bad thing.

CREATORS: Eric Newman & Noah Oppenheim & Michael S. Schmidt
SHOWRUNNERS: Eric Newman, Noah Oppenheim
DIRECTOR: Lesli Linka Glatter
WRITERS: Michael S. Schmidt (101), Noah Oppenheim and Eric Newman (101, 102, 106), Roberto Patino (103), Eli Atti (104), Dee Johnson (105)
EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS: Eric Newman, Noah Oppenheim, Robert De Niro, Lesli Linka Glatter, Jonathan Glickman, Michael S. Schmidt
CAST: Robert De Niro, Jesse Plemons, Lizzy Caplan, Connie Britton, Joan Allen, Bill Camp, Dan Stevens, McKinley Belcher III, with Matthew Modine and Angela Bassett
GUEST STARRING: Clark Gregg, Gaby Hoffmann, Mark Ivanir

Netflix releases Zero Day on February 20, 2025. Grade: 5/5

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