Netflix’s new series Zero Day starts with a shocking event. In the very first episode, cyberterrorists launch a devastating attack on the United States. The attack causes trains to derail, planes to crash, and leads to the deaths of 3,000 people. The entire country falls into chaos, and the government scrambles to find those responsible.
President Evelyn Mitchell, played by Angela Bassett, takes immediate action. She appoints former U.S. President George Mullen, played by Robert De Niro, to lead an investigative commission. His mission is to track down the terrorists before they can strike again.
Mullen seems like the ideal person for the job. He was a popular one-term President known for working across party lines. However, not everything about him is as perfect as it appears. He has secrets from his past that could come back to haunt him at the worst possible moment.
As he investigates the attack, he faces tough choices. Will he break the law to find the truth? And what happens if the truth takes him in a direction he never wanted to go?
With a strong cast that includes Lizzy Caplan, Jesse Plemons, Joan Allen, Dan Stevens, Gaby Hoffman, Matthew Modine, Connie Britton, and Clark Gregg, Zero Day offers more than just a thrilling mystery. It becomes a deep story about power, deception, and personal struggles.
Who Is Behind the Attack?
The U.S. government quickly develops a theory about the attack. Officials suspect that Russia is responsible, but that answer seems too simple. Mullen takes on the challenge of uncovering the real truth.
He has a team of experts helping him, including skilled hackers tracking the cybercriminals behind the attack. He also relies on Roger Carlson, played by Jesse Plemons, a longtime loyal supporter. Valerie Whitesell, played by Connie Britton, also assists him.
She was once Mullen’s Chief of Staff, but their past is complicated. Mullen had an affair with Valerie while he was President, leading to the birth of a daughter who does not know the truth about her father’s identity.
Roger is a dedicated worker, but he has his own struggles. He is a former drug addict, and he is secretly in a relationship with Mullen’s daughter, Alexandra, played by Lizzy Caplan.
Alexandra plays a key role in the story. She is a congresswoman, and she does not trust her father’s leadership in the investigation. She is assigned to oversee the commission along with Richard Dreyer, played by Matthew Modine, the opposition Speaker of the House.
Dreyer and Alexandra seem to get along, but he clearly has his own agenda. He wants more power, and when Mullen starts pushing the investigation too far, Dreyer sees an opportunity.
The search for the attackers leads to troubling actions. A 17-year-old boy is falsely arrested. Later, a conspiracy theorist named Evan Green, played by Dan Stevens, becomes a suspect. Authorities discovered that hackers linked to the attack were influenced by Green, so they arrested him as well. Mullen even approves his torture to get information.
As the investigation continues, things take a tragic turn. Roger is murdered, and his death is made to look like an overdose. The case moves forward, and authorities finally capture their first suspect, Monica Kidder, played by Gaby Hoffman. She is an eccentric billionaire who owns social media apps, making her a possible reference to Elon Musk.
Monica realizes she is losing control. She tries to reach out to her fellow attackers, but they abandon her. Left without options, she takes her own life in jail. With Monica dead, Mullen loses a key source of information.
Then, the series delivers a shocking twist—Alexandra is secretly involved. She reaches out to Dreyer for a meeting, revealing that they are working together along with a billionaire named Robert Lyndon, played by Clark Gregg. But they are not the only ones behind this conspiracy.
The Shocking Truth Behind the Attacks
The final episode of Zero Day reveals the full truth. The cyber attack was not the work of foreign enemies. Instead, it was an operation planned within the American government.
Dreyer came up with the idea. He was frustrated that Congress could not pass any laws. Political leaders refused to cooperate, choosing to remain divided between extreme beliefs on both sides. Dreyer believed that if America faced a crisis, people would unite. He compared it to the way Americans briefly came together after the 9/11 attacks.
To execute his plan, he recruited Alexandra and over a dozen others. They believed they were doing something necessary for the country. However, things spiraled out of control. People died, and now the truth is on the verge of coming out.
George Mullen finally uncovers the full story. He is not the only one who knows. His wife, Sheila, played by Joan Allen, learns what their daughter has done. She begs her husband to keep it a secret. They already lost a son to a drug overdose, and she cannot bear to lose another child.
Alexandra also breaks down. She never wanted people to die. She only wanted to wake America up. She begs for mercy, but Dreyer takes a different approach. He tells Mullen to bury the truth. If the country finds out that its own government carried out the attack, it could lead to complete collapse.
Even President Mitchell privately urges Mullen to cover up the true extent of the conspiracy. She wants to place all the blame on Monica Kidder and move forward. If the real story is exposed, her chances of re-election will be destroyed.
Mullen prepares to give a speech before Congress. He initially agrees to stick to the official story, blaming Monica Kidder. But when the moment comes, he makes a bold decision. He reads a letter from Alexandra, in which she confesses her involvement and accepts responsibility.
He names Dreyer and several other politicians in the room as part of the conspiracy. The entire country watches in shock. George Mullen, once considered a leader who had lost his way, chooses honesty over power. He is willing to sacrifice his own daughter to reveal the truth.
Is George Mullen Under Attack?
Zero Day is not just about the cyber attack. It is also about Mullen’s personal struggles. He never ran for a second term because of the grief of losing his son. He also experiences strange visions and mental confusion.
Throughout the series, Mullen writes in a notebook filled with incoherent thoughts. He repeatedly writes “Who Killed Bambi?” and hears the Sex Pistols song of the same name playing when no one else is around.
The series introduces the concept of Proteus, a cyber weapon that can manipulate a person’s mind from a distance. This technology played a role in the Zero Day attack, spreading malware rapidly. In the final episode, the terrorists activate Proteus again.
During this attack, Mullen and his wife are at home. Protestors gather outside their gate. The Secret Service orders Mullen to evacuate, but the protestors turn violent, creating a scene reminiscent of the January 6th Capitol riot. The CIA intervenes just in time, saving Mullen and faking his death.
At the very end, Mullen discovers an electronic device hidden in his bird feeder. It remains unclear whether this is part of the Proteus attack or something harmless. The show leaves the audience questioning whether his hallucinations were caused by an external cyber attack or his own psychological struggles.
One thing is certain—his life will never be the same. At the beginning of the series, he was writing his memoirs. In the end, he burns them. All episodes of Zero Day are now available to stream on Netflix.
