With a cast packed with prestige icons and a premise that feels eerily ripped from tomorrow’s headlines, Netflix’s limited series “Zero Day” has quickly become one of the most talked-about political thrillers of the season. The six-episode series follows a bipartisan investigation into a coordinated cyberattack that paralyzes key U.S. industries, triggering national panic and a desperate search for answers. At the heart of the story is former President George Mullen, played by two-time Oscar winner Robert De Niro in his first television role, a performance that’s both commanding and quietly devastating.
The series unfolds as Mullen is reluctantly pulled back into public life to co-chair a newly formed “Zero Day Commission” alongside sitting President Mitchell, portrayed by Angela Bassett. Together, they must navigate shifting alliances, media manipulation, and competing agendas, all while grappling with the chilling possibility that the country’s enemies may be operating from within. Showrunners Eric Newman, Noah Oppenheim, and Michael S. Schmidt weave together themes of national security, technological vulnerability, and moral ambiguity with propulsive storytelling and an ensemble cast that reads like a who’s who of modern drama.
Joining De Niro and Bassett are Lizzy Caplan as Alexandra Mullen, Jesse Plemons as the elusive Roy Taylor, Connie Britton as hard-nosed journalist Valerie Whitesell, Dan Stevens as firebrand congressman Evan Green, and Matthew Modine as Speaker of the House Harry Becker. The lineup also includes Joan Allen, Michael Imperioli, and Leslie Odom Jr. It’s a cast that could easily fill an Emmy telecast, and under the helm of Director Lesli Linka Glatter, it delivers.
Glatter, who directed all six episodes and serves as executive producer, brings the same narrative control and layered character work that defined some of her previous series work like “Homeland,” “Mad Men,” and “The Morning Show.” Her direction gives “Zero Day” the scale of a feature film while still carving out space for deeply personal moments. “We were cross-boarding all six hours and shooting like it was one continuous movie,” Glatter shares. “It was a creative triage situation—we had just come back from the strike, and we had to move fast without ever compromising story or performance.”
Beyond her creative work, Glatter also serves as president of the Directors Guild of America, where she has emerged as a forceful advocate for labor protections, expanded production incentives, and keeping filmmaking jobs stateside. In her conversation with Awards Focus, she reflects on the dual pressures of directing a show as complex as “Zero Day” while leading the DGA through one of the most turbulent periods in industry history.
Glatter spoke with Awards Focus about crafting De Niro’s first television role, the real-life inspirations behind the show’s cyber-espionage premise, the moral calculus of its characters, and why she keeps returning to thrillers that ask hard questions about power and truth.
AF: Nice to meet you. I am Ben with Awards Focus. We are not a political outlet by any means, but I do know as president of the DGA—and especially after the Palisades fires—there has been renewed momentum around bringing filmmaking back to LA, keeping people employed, and fighting for the right reasons. So what was your reaction to the recent Trump order about tariffs on foreign films? It seems like it might help, but maybe not in the right way.
Linka Glatter: Exactly. I mean, let us look at the positive side—talking about the importance of federal tax incentives is important. This has not happened for years, and we absolutely need that. Is that the right way to do it? Absolutely not. But the fact that we can now have a conversation, I have to look at that as some kind of opportunity.
What we need is state tax incentives combined with really robust federal tax incentives to make a difference in bringing production back to America. We just cannot lose Hollywood—the icon, the image of Hollywood as the storytelling capital. The tragedy of that would be profound. So we have to work on it, find the window of opportunity to have those conversations. And we are actively pursuing them in Washington.
AF: It feels like a courageous time to be the head of the DGA. The industry is changing so fast, and here we are talking on a Saturday. You have so many directing credits and ongoing projects. How do you manage it all?
Linka Glatter: I will tell you—it is a lot more work than I thought it was going to be because I am working all the time. But the DGA leadership is absolutely built on working leadership. All of our officers and board members are people who volunteer their time and energy to give back to other members. It is an amazing thing. It is a constant source of inspiration for me.
Again, we are built on working leadership. If you look at our board of directors—oh my goodness. So it is a balancing act. I actually started shooting again on Thursday, and I am shooting in LA.
AF: Great. I think I heard this is the project with Elisabeth Moss, right?
Linka Glatter: Yes, it is with Elisabeth Moss, Kerry Washington, Kate Mara, Joel Kinnaman, Keith Carradine, and Leslie Odom Jr. I am in director heaven.
AF: We are here to talk about “Zero Day.” I rewatched the finale this morning. There is so much going on—political intrigue, partisanship, patriotism, neuro-weapons. How did you balance all of that across the six episodes? Was there ever a point where you thought, we need to dial some things up or down?
Linka Glatter: Absolutely—it is a constant balancing act. This is a paranoid conspiracy thriller, and at its heart it asks so many questions. What is truth in a post-truth world? How do you communicate if we cannot agree on what is fact and what is opinion? Where do real conversations come from?
I love all of that. I want to be in the back rooms of power where decisions are made. I love shows that are realistically real. This is totally based on research and fact—though we did take one element over the line, which I will explain. But even in all that, you have to have complicated, layered, complex characters. If you do not, the thriller engine is great, but you will not care about what is happening.
AF: I remember reading about the the mysterious sonic weapons in Havana. But I never saw any conclusive explanation of what it actually was.
Linka Glatter: Right. That is why we leave it up in the air. But yes, that is an actual thing. What I was referring to is the idea of a zero day event. There have been many. A zero day event is a flaw in software that can be hacked. It is one of the most powerful cyber weapons—it can take down an entire industry.
The first one was in 2014. A cyber weapon would be something like Russia taking down the power grid in Ukraine in the middle of winter. That is a cyber attack. You could take down banking, transportation, aviation. But there has never been a zero day event that takes down every industry simultaneously. God forbid. But we wanted to look at something on the scale of a nine eleven event, to ask: Would we behave differently? Would we look for truth? Would we need to find an enemy because we need one? What happens to us when we are paralyzed with fear?
AF: Maybe this skips too far to the end, but in that final shot, De Niro’s character Mullen pays the price of being a patriot and telling the truth. He’s essentially exiled by his family and everyone. Do you think, in today’s world, that is the true price of honesty in politics?
Linka Glatter: That is a really good question. A very profound question. I do not want to believe you end up alone for telling the truth. This is a story about each of our main characters’ moral compass.
For ex-President Mullen, the truth is the truth. For President Mitchell—Angela Bassett’s character—truth is important, but it is not always the most important thing. I think our characters’ relationship to truth is fascinating.
AF: And clearly there was a lot of research behind the show. I imagine even the set design was built on real intel?
Linka Glatter: Yes, we had incredible advisors to help us stay realistically real. Down to set design—we were calling Jeremy Bash, who was chief of staff of the Department of Defense and the CIA, to ask if we had the right signage. If this kind of commission were formed quickly, what would it look like? Where would it be housed? How would the departments interact?
We tried to be really grounded so we could ask all these questions and explore these character dramas.
AF: Someone like you does not strike me as easily starstruck, but what was the feeling knowing Robert De Niro was joining the show for his first ever television role?
Linka Glatter: I have to be honest—I was a bit in awe. De Niro is extraordinary. But he is also an incredible human being and collaborator. He was already involved with the project before I came on. I read the script and said, yes, count me in.
We developed the subsequent episodes together. He is an amazing number one. He is a great leader, has a great sense of humor. I would work with him over and over again if I could.
AF: And when you are directing someone like him, is it a matter of refining his performance, or is he already completely dialed into the character?
Linka Glatter: I would not give him “Taxi Driver” or “Meet the Parents” as references, but we were in constant conversation. One thing Bob had not experienced was shooting like a six hour movie—we cross-boarded all six episodes. That was very challenging. I am extremely prepared, so keeping everyone on track emotionally and plot wise was essential.
AF: He is also known for being politically outspoken. Given the timing—this was shot during the Biden administration—do you think the show would have changed if it were filmed after the 2024 election?
Linka Glatter: In some ways, it became even more prescient when it came out. We did not know Biden would not be the next candidate. He had not given that speech yet. Kamala Harris was not running when we cast Angela Bassett as our president.
So those things just happened. The questions we were asking became even more relevant—but you cannot plan on that.
AF: Despite the political themes, the show does not feel overtly partisan. Was that a conscious decision?
Linka Glatter: Absolutely. People can barely hear an opposing view right now. We did not want to alienate half the audience. I love scenes where two characters have opposing views and both are right. We wanted to present both sides of issues and not paint one side as the villain.
AF: The cast is stacked—more than all star, it is truly a hall of fame ensemble. Was there anyone you had not worked with before who surprised you?
Linka Glatter: I had never worked with Matthew Modine—he was incredible as Speaker of the House. I also had not worked with Dan Stevens. He plays a very tough role.
AF: On Dan Stevens—there is a clear real world parallel, but what was your direction for him in shaping that character?
Linka Glatter: He was a character who liked to stir things up—that was his job. Dan wanted to play someone like that. It was not based on one person, but we had a lot of reference material. He is an amalgamation of muckrakers, people who create chaos. Whether they believe it or not, they have made a business out of it.
AF: So much of your career—from “Homeland” to “Zero Day”—centers around political thrillers. Where did that love come from?
Linka Glatter: I always try to mix it up. After “Homeland,” I did not want to jump into another spy show. I did “Love and Death” with David E. Kelley—almost a black comedy true crime story. Now I am doing “Imperfect Women,” a psychological thriller about friendship.
I think thrillers are a great engine to hang character and story on. But I want each one to be different. For this one, I went back to older conspiracy thrillers—“Seven Days in May,” “Three Days of the Condor,” “The Parallax View,” “The Manchurian Candidate.” Probably the film that influenced me most—like many directors—was “All the President’s Men.”
AF: That is one of my all time favorites. I remember watching it very young and being completely absorbed.
Linka Glatter: Me too.
AF: Well, thank you for spending your Saturday with me. This was super fun. I hope we get to do it again.
Linka Glatter: Thank you. It was great to talk to you.