If you’ve found yourself captivated by the political thriller Zero Day and are curious about the plausibility of its dramatic events, you’re not alone.
The limited series begins with a devastating cyberattack, compelling former US President George Mullen (portrayed by Robert De Niro, who also takes on the role of executive producer) to step out of retirement. His goal is to identify those responsible for an attack that has resulted in thousands of deaths and plunged the nation into chaos. Created by Eric Newman and Noah Oppenheim, Zero Day—now streaming on Netflix—presents a race against time. Mullen must navigate through a torrent of disinformation that has divided the country to uncover the truth, all while political, technological, and financial power brokers compete for dominance. Meanwhile, Mullen struggles with his personal demons.
The series also showcases a star-studded cast featuring Angela Bassett, Jesse Plemons, Lizzy Caplan, Connie Britton, Joan Allen, Matthew Modine, Bill Camp, Dan Stevens, McKinley Belcher III, Gaby Hoffmann, and Clark Gregg.
In Zero Day, the phrase “zero day” refers to a critical moment when software launches without protective patches, rendering it vulnerable to attacks. A zero-day attack occurs when malware breaches the software during its unprotected period. As Eric Newman, a creator of the show, clarifies, “A zero-day attack happens when a piece of malware is injected or invades a piece of software at a time when it’s defenseless against that attack.”
Once a patch is created and implemented, it typically blocks the attack; however, new zero-day attacks can quickly emerge if attackers uncover other vulnerabilities. “The next day, there might be a patch that stops that, and at that point, you would need a new zero-day attack that would get around that,” says Newman. This establishes a continuous cycle of vulnerability, where new threats consistently arise, challenging both software developers and security experts to stay ahead in the fight for protection.
The six intense episodes of Zero Day are created by Eric Newman (known for Griselda, The Watcher, Narcos, and Narcos: Mexico), Noah Oppenheim, the former president of NBC News, and Michael S. Schmidt, a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative journalist from The New York Times. Executive producer Jonathan Glickman was instrumental in bringing this story to fruition. Leslie Linka Glatter, director and executive producer (known for Homeland), also contributed her expertise to finalize the series.
“This is a story about what would happen to the country if there was another attack on the level of 9/11,” Schmidt told Netflix. “If there was something majorly catastrophic that happened to our country right now, how would the country react?”
In 2012, Schmidt visited Washington, DC, for a story and learned from senior national security officials that potential cyberattacks were a continuing concern. “I took them at face value that this was a problem, but one of the issues is that there was never a way to show what that really meant,” Schmidt shares with Tudum.
Zero Day offered a distinctive platform “to show what a catastrophic cyberattack could look like,” Schmidt explains. “I saw this as an opportunity to say, ‘OK, the federal government was never able to show the public what a cyber Pearl Harbor [or a] cyber 9/11 [could] look like. Let’s take that opportunity and provide people with an example of that.’ ”
Just days after the devastating attack, Congress votes to establish the Zero Day Commission, which President Evelyn Mitchell (Angela Bassett) appoints George Mullen (Robert De Niro) to lead. The commission’s mission is to uncover the truth behind the attack and prevent it from happening again. A month later, Mullen testifies before Congress, presenting his findings to the world. For a government often recognized for its sluggish pace, this quick timeline may seem a bit implausible. But is it?
“There’s definitely funding that is reserved for contingency and emergency situations,” political consultant Schultz explains, noting that commissions like the Zero Day Commission can be launched quickly “when it is an exigent circumstance” like the one portrayed in Zero Day.
“I think the show is accurately reflecting how if Congress and the president want to move, they can move,” adds the former principal deputy White House press secretary. “As slow as the federal government can be at times, given the bureaucracy, there are moments where we can be fast and swift. I think it’s completely within reason that we could stand up a zero-day commission like we did in Zero Day, giving it the resources it needs.”
The creative team behind the show, with insights from consultants like Schultz, took great care to ensure that the depiction of officials and locations was as authentic as possible. This meticulous attention to detail extends to iconic spaces such as the White House briefing room, the Oval Office, and the Outer Oval Office—all of which Schultz commends for their accuracy. “the right energy and the right vibe of what the real-life places in DC feel like.”
Even the smallest nuances, such as the volume at which the sergeant-at-arms announces Mullen and the Speaker of the House, Richard Dreyer (Matthew Modine), upon their arrival in the House Chamber, are grounded in real-life protocol.
“There’s a ton of background noise; all these members of Congress are there talking and yapping it up,” explains Schultz. “There needs to be a lot of noise, and then the sergeant at arms comes on top of that to make the announcement. It was just small stuff like that to make sure we got it right.”
Could a zero-day cyberattack truly happen? The answer is yes—while the events portrayed in Zero Day are fictional, the possibility of a catastrophic cyberattack is very real, as experts have warned for years.
Michael S. Schmidt, a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative reporter, notes that for over a decade, government officials have been raising concerns about the potential risk of such an attack. “For over a decade, if not more, the government has been warning that there is a catastrophic cyberattack that could hit the country,” Schmidt says. “Cyber 9/11, cyber Pearl Harbor — these are concepts and ideas that, when senior law enforcement and Justice Department intelligence officials go and testify before Congress, they say to Congress, ‘Look, this is a potential real problem.’”
Although the U.S. has faced numerous cyberattacks with significant repercussions, Schmidt notes that a truly devastating cyberstrike has yet to occur. “The U.S. has experienced ‘massive cyberattacks that have had real consequences’ and done ‘real damage to collective faith in our infrastructure and in our own systems,’” he states. “But that humongous, devastating cyberattack has not happened yet.””
The risk of cyberterrorism is constantly changing, and political consultant Schultz highlights its seriousness. “The threat is real, and it’s dangerous, and it’s acute,” Schultz warns. “It is up to the government, working with partners in national security, the private sector, and the tech space, to remain vigilant because those threats are not going away anytime soon—or at all.”
While experts agree that a significant cyberattack could happen, some, including cybersecurity expert Watts, are skeptical about the likelihood of a Zero Day-type attack. Watts argues that the high level of human coordination needed for such an attack makes it improbable. “I think this is the key point in the human dimension of the cyberattack,” Watts explains. “It’s not just that somebody typed a one instead of a zero; it’s a lot of people organizing to execute this in a way that would be devastating. … It’s not just a bunch of machines doing the cyberattack, it’s a bunch of people using machines to do the cyberattack to create this effect. So, it’s highly unlikely that this situation would arise.”
Watts adds that global efforts are in place to prevent catastrophic cyberattacks. “There are a lot of people around the world working to stop something from happening that would be this critical, making sure that the integrity of the information world is in place,” he says. “So, I don’t think people should stay up at night worried that their internet’s going to go out. I think, for the most part, we’ve got really smart people who are on this. But you’ve got to watch out for the bad people, not the bad machines.”
Ultimately, though the extreme scenario depicted in Zero Day might seem improbable, the increasing sophistication of cyber threats underscores the importance of remaining vigilant. With technological progress comes heightened risks, rendering cybersecurity a continuous and high-stakes challenge.
