Zero Day (Netflix series, 2025)

Living legend Robert De Niro is in fine form in the new six-part political conspiracy thriller series Zero Day.

The series was created by Eric Newman, Noah Oppenheim and Michael Schmidt, while Lesli Linka Glatter (Homeland) directed all six episodes.

Robert de Niro plays a former American president who is called on to investigate a nationwide cyber attack that killed thousands of people, because planes, trains and cars crashed and lot of other awful stuff happened.

The venerated actor, who has never done much television, is here called George Mullen, a well respected elder statesman, whose presidency was limited to one term because he gave up office after the death of his son.

Through the years he built has a reputation for being steadfast and trustworthy and no doubt he will be able to solve the case, no matter how high the stakes.

So when the current President Evelyn Mitchell (Angela Bassett) calls on him to head the investigation committee, he feels he has no other choice than to answer the call, even if it will eventually and inevitably land him in hot water.

For starters, due to his advancing age, there are now some doubts about his mental health, which gives the story a topical edge. There is also Dan Stevens, who plays a Joe Rohan-like talk show host dabbling in conspiracy theories.

Zero Day clearly takes place in the age of Donald Trump, even though the creative team perhaps gambled on Kamala Harris winning the elections, while De Niro’s Mullen at times comes across as (politically speaking) a mix between Joe Biden and Jimmy Carter.

Lizzy Caplan plays Mullen’s daughter Alexandra, who herself is an ambitious young politician, who is somewhat at odds with her father and ironically becomes part of the team overseeing Mullen’s investigative committee.

It is a rich and varied cast, that includes Connie Britton, Joan Allen, Gaby Hoffmann and Matthew Modine, with Jesse Plemons once again impressive as one of Mullen’s right hand men, who may or may not have an agenda of his own (a trait he shares with most other characters).

And then there is the question who is behind the unprecedented cyber attack. Is it a foreign country (= Russia)? A bunch of terrorist hackers (‘hacktivists’)? A domestic terrorist group? Wall Street Vultures and other assorted hedgefunds who want to profit from the chaos and the threat of a repeated attack? A conspiracy that goes all the way to the top? I’m just putting some possibilities out there, if that’s not to paranoid for you…

No matters its serious subject matter, Zero Day is a lot of fun, with a story that is full of twists and turns, even if it’s not always possible to suspend your (or my) sense of disbelief.

De Niro, however, is in fine form and we are lucky he chose this thoroughly engaging production over some of the middling movie roles he has chosen in the later part of his career.

Based on the first couple of episodes, I would say that if you like series like The Night Agent, Bodyguard or Homeland this is probably for you.

I give it four stars!