The events ofZero Dayare fictional, but that doesn’t mean they could never happen. Eric Newman’s latest Netflix project centers around George Mullen (Robert De Niro), a former president tasked with heading up the Zero Day Committeeafter a cyberattackon the United States claims the lives of thousands of citizens. All events leading up to the Zero Day attack, with the exception of the fictional politicians,are pulled from legitimate American history.
While the cyberattack marksZero Day’s branch into a fictional reality, the threat of what a power grid shutdown could do to the country is very legitimate. Netflixpreviously explored the concept inLeave The World Behind, a 2023 film produced by former president Barack Obama, that sees the United States suffer a power grid shutdown through the lens of one vacationing family.
ScreenRantspokewithZero Daystar Lizzy Caplanto decipher whether the six-episode miniseries is truly a work of fiction or if it is a cautionary tale.
Lizzy Caplan Calls Zero Day A “Cautionary Tale”
“It’s Definitely Not A Work Of Pure Fiction…”
The events of projects likeZero DayandLeave The World Behindshould encourage viewers to tread lightly.
“[It’s a] cautionary tale,“Zero Day’s Lizzy Caplan declared.
WhileZero Daybears a storyline similarity toLeave The World Behind, it stands on its own through its narrators.Leave The World Behindshows the civilian response whereasZero Daydisplays the government side.
“And as scary as it was to watch that movie (Leave The World Behind), which really freaked me out, that was the human, the normal person responds to something like this whereas ours definitely focuses more on the government response if some attack of this ilk were to happen,“Caplan continued.“But the most chilling part of that movie was seeing that is produced by the Obamas.
“The most chilling part of ours is that we have the former president of NBC News (Noah Oppenheim) and a Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times journalist (Michael Schmidt) who are two of our main writers. Let’s just say it’s definitely not a work of pure fiction.”
Caplan’s Alex Is At Odds With Her Father, Former President George Mullen
“Oftentimes She Can Let Her Immature Petulance Come Through…”
One of the pure fictional elements ofZero Dayis the show’s characters. Caplan plays Alex Mullen, the daughter of Robert De Niro’s former president George Mullen, who is pursuing a political career of her own but is not necessarily looking to get into the family business. That’s because Alex’s political ideologies clash with her father’s, leading to a rift in their relationship as she progresses in Washington DC.
“I think like many younger people, I believe that Alex believes she’s owed things maybe without proving or before she’s been able to prove her greatness,“Caplan said.“And not because she’s the daughter of a president, but because she thinks she’s the smartest person in every room and she probably has been the smartest person in many rooms growing up. But I think we could all probably do better at staying quieter and listening to people who have much more experience and wisdom in certain areas of life.”
Alex is highly protective of her father, especially as he returns to political power to head up the Zero Day Committee. She makes an effort to distance George from someone he is implied to be having an affair with, all the while she is having a secret relationship of her own.
“She’s not not hypocritical throughout,“Caplan said of Alex’s behavior.“I think one of the things that I liked the most about making this show is they really are facing down this imminent happening in real-time, but there’s all these interpersonal dynamics happening underneath, and this is the team now that’s been assembled to deal with this. This team is very dysfunctional. They have all these mixed histories with one another. Sometimes, Alex is great at putting on her congresswoman’s suit and remembering that that’s what she’s supposed to be, but oftentimes she can let her immature petulance come through.”
