For decades, there have been varying depictions of US presidents in movies and TV shows. These commanders-in-chief are often depicted trying to safeguard the nation’s safety, reflecting real-life issues and social concerns. Zero Day, the Robert De Niro-led Netflix thriller, is the latest TV show that winds through political terrain.
Created by Eric Newman with journalists Noah Oppenheim and Michael S. Schmidt, Zero Day examines digital espionage and the complexities of the truth in our increasingly interconnected world. Therefore, across six hour-long episodes, political thriller Zero Day immerses viewers in a catastrophe.
With a strong cast, the show delves into real-world fears about our digital landscape and the spread of misinformation. While this TV series isn’t particularly stylish, it has a refreshing directness, as if the makers of the show want to convey their message about unchecked online power as clearly as possible.
Zero Day raises questions about technology misuse through the lens of a crisis. De Niro commands the screen as former US President George Mullen, who’s been called out of retirement when a cyber-attack known as “Zero Day” breaks out. Trains derail, and hospitals are affected, sending the entire nation into chaos. In response, Mullen races to find the culprit, and the show explores the wide-ranging impact of this comms strike. The scale of the attack is massive, affecting everything from subways to financial systems, and the show effectively portrays this threat as an invisible force.
Unlike the presidential characters in films like Roland Emmerich’s 1996 sci-fi action film Independence Day, which deliver stirring, operatic speeches, Zero Day has more serious concerns, and it aims for realism. The team behind the show did their due diligence and spent time with cybersecurity expert Clint Watts. In an interview with Netflix, executive producer Michael S. Schmidt said, “One of the most important parts of this show was this had to be as realistic and as believable as possible… Yes, we have to tell a great story, and we have to have a thriller aspect to this, but it still needs to be as authentic as possible.”
Recent political thrillers on Netflix have been a mix of styles, from Debora Cahn’s artfully intelligent The Diplomat (2023), which, like Zero Day, portrays a woman as president of the United States, to the conspiracy thriller The Night Agent, which is told from the POV of an FBI agent (2023). These shows are often lean and propulsive, satisfying viewers’ urges for binge-worthy television. Zero Day envisions a scenario where technology breaks down and explores the fallout.
De Niro’s performance anchors the drama, and he projects an air of authority in every scene. Mullen is under pressure to get results quickly, and added to this, he’s experiencing strange hallucinations. What could have been a straightforward hero narrative evolves into a standoff between a national crisis and personal drama, with the looming threat of technology gone wrong at the centre of it all.
In the elaborate world of Zero Day – which wastes no time getting to the action – there’s a lot going on, but it’s all carefully balanced within the overarching story that carries real urgency. That sense of uncertainty and mishandling of the truth courses through the show’s veins, and part of the intrigue is that the characters don’t know all the answers.
The principle of democracy fuels the storytelling, which wanders in many directions, but never deviates from its central focus. In the series, there’s a sense of information overload, where Mullen and his team are working against a limited amount of time. How long can people survive in our time without access to online communication?
Zero Day explores the societal dependency on digital systems through its characters, who become helpless in the face of digital disruption. The show explores how the sudden removal of technologies can lead to a real human crisis, as these systems have become so intertwined with our daily lives.
However, Zero Day could have dug deeper into its complex issues. There’s a measure of restraint here and some questionable character choices, but as a response to societal concerns and the current climate, it is an engaging piece of television. The landscape that Zero Day presents is fraught, raising questions about resilience, technological advancement, and society at large. It encourages viewers to confront the realities of our digital age and consider the blurring of the line between facts and perceptions.
Many TV shows have explored our fears about technology in great depth. Some of these include Charlie Brooker’s dystopian sci-fi Black Mirror (2011), Sam Esmail’s cyber thriller Mr. Robot, and
Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy’s AI sci-fi Westworld (2016), which explore the power of technology and how it can influence us. These shows tap into the collective unease about the modern world, a feeling that Zero Day explores in its own way.
Questions will linger after watching Zero Day, especially regarding certain characters’ motivations. Still, it is a thought-provoking addition to a catalogue of thrillers about our relationship with technology.