Robert De Niro ramps up the surveillance state in first American TV outing Zero Day

“3,402 people died on Zero Day,” Robert De Niro’s voiceover tells us at the beginning of the teaser for Zero Day, a new limited series coming to Netflix. It’s a number big and similar enough to invoke thoughts of 9/11, as do the shots of chaos in New York City and Washington D.C. intermixed with De Niro’s speech. But it’s what comes after that’s the most allusive to the biggest terrorist attack in America: Robert De Niro is about to reinvent the PATRIOT Act, you guys. 

Based on its teaser, Zero Day appears to be about a cyber attack on the United States—one bad enough to cause plane crashes and train derailments—and the lengths governmental powers will go to to give people (the illusion of) safety. Series co-creator Noah Oppenheim told Netflix’s Tudum, “The show also looks at the cost of power for those who are asked to take on these enormous challenges—what it means for them personally, and what it means for their families.” Eric Newman, whose resume includes Griselda and Narcos, co-created the show with Oppenheim. 

Of course, the biggest draw here is De Niro, who is committing to a series for the first time, according to Netflix. (He did do a Bernie Madoff TV movie for HBO in 2017, and appeared in Argentine drama Nada last year—perhaps this is just his first leading, full-time role.) “Right now, our actual world is scarier,” he told Tudum, which does sound like exactly the kind of thing he would say. But the series creators emphasize the input he had on the show, with Newman calling him a “partner” in the process. The rest of the cast is pretty stacked, too: Angela Bassett, Connie Britton, Lizzy Caplan, Jesse Plemmons, and Matthew Modine round out the ensemble. 

Zero Day arrives on Netflix on February 20. You can check out the first teaser below.