Robert De Niro has swapped the world of film for the small screen to star in the new Netflix series Zero Day.
The Academy award-winning actor plays a former US president called back into action to head a truth-seeking inquiry into a cyber attack, which paralysed the nation and caused thousands of deaths.
The series was created by Eric Newman and Noah Oppenheim, with Pulitzer Prize winner Michael S Schmidt as executive producer and writer.
Newman said: “As a lifelong fan of American cinema, no actor looms larger for me than Robert De Niro.
“To have him as a producing partner and star in this show is beyond our wildest dreams.”
The cast of the thriller also boasts Angela Bassett, Matthew Modine and Dan Stevens among its ranks.
Oppenheim said: “The show 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.”
Zero Day prompts a number of questions.
How do we find the truth in a world in crisis and an era rife with conspiracy theories and subterfuge?
And are the forces at work of our own making or even our own imagination?
Robert De Niro stars as respected former US president George Mullen, who is brought out of retirement to lead the Zero Day Commission after a devastating global cyber attack causes chaos and thousands of fatalities.
Electricity, internet servers and GPS goes down for one minute causing trains to collide and life support machines to crash – known as Zero Day.
Disinformation runs rampant in the wake of the attack and the personal ambitions of power brokers in technology, Wall Street, and government collide.
Mullen’s task is to find out the truth behind the attack and who the perpetrators are.
But in doing so, he is also forced to confront his own dark secrets.
Robert De Niro stars George Mullen, a hugely popular but complicated former US president, pulled out of retirement to head the Zero Day Commission, a group of experts tasked with investigating the cyber attack.
Speaking about his first leading television role, De Niro said Mullen’s ethos is to just tell it straight.
“That’s the spine of my character in the show,” said De Niro. “Don’t dodge anything. Don’t play games. Be honest about what’s going on so that the public knows what’s going on.”
The legendary American actor and film producer has won Oscars for his roles as role as Vito Corleone in the 1974 film The Godfather Part II and Jake LaMotta in the 1980 movie Raging Bull.
In a career spanning more than 60 years, the 81-year-old has starred in films such as Taxi Driver, The Deer Hunter, Awakenings, Cape Fear, Silver Linings Playbook and Killers of the Flower Moon.
Angela Bassett stars as the US president Evelyn Mitchell, a brilliant and perceptive political tactician who hires Mullen to take on an unprecedented role in American history.
The award-winning actress, 66, rose to fame playing Tina Turner in the 1993 film What’s Love Got To Do With It?, for which she won a Golden Globe.
She has also starred in Boyz in the Hood, Malcom X, Notorious, Green Lantern and played Queen Ramonda in the Marvel Cinematic Universe films Black Panther, Avengers: Endgame and Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.
On television, she has starred as LAPD sergeant Athena Grant in 9-1-1 since 2018.
Jesse Plemons takes on the role of Roger Carlson in Zero Day, Mullen’s former aide and a trusted fixer who is seeking a return to the national stage.
Plemons has starred in a number of high-profile television series such as Breaking Bad and Fargo, for which he has won awards.
The 36-year-old American actor has also appeared in films such as Bridge of Spies, The Irishman, The Power of the Dog, Kinds of Kindness and Killers of the Flower Moon.
Lizzy Caplan plays Alexandra Mullen, a young congressional representative from New York who has worked hard to distance herself from her father’s political legacy and establish herself in her own right.
Caplan, 42, rose to prominence as Janis Ian in the 2004 film Mean Girls and has since starred in Cloverfield, Bachelorette, The Interview and Cobweb.
She has also Casey Klein in the television series Party Down and Virginia E Johnson in Masters of Sex.
The remaining cast of Zero Day includes:
Zero Day premieres on Netflix on Thursday 20 February, with six episodes available in the limited series.
It can only be streamed on Netflix, so viewers will need a subscription to the service which starts from £5.99 a month.
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