Zero Day: Robert De Niro's political thriller sees streaming success even after low RT numbers from critics

Zero Day, the latest political thriller series on Netflix starring Robert De Niro has been a streaming success despite a poor Rotten Tomatoes (RT) rating. The show, which premiered on the OTT platform on February 20, 2025, has been on the Netflix Top 10 list across the globe.

The series follows the repercussions of a catastrophic cyber-attack that leads to several casualties. De Niro plays the role of former President of the United States of America, George Mullen, who is tasked to investigate the attack.

Zero Day is one of the more anticipated shows of the year on Netflix, marking Robert De Niro’s television debut. Despite the success on the platform for viewership, the show holds a 53% Tomatometer (critics rating), and 53% Popcornmeter (audience rating) on RT, which is not favorable to Zero Day.

A top critic on RT, Tim Lowery of AV Club said:

‘There are so many groan-worthy lines here, and far-fetched scenarios, that it’s hard to take any of the insights this show has about our current political climate all that seriously.’

Peter Travis of ABC News wrote:

"Robert De Niro, as a former POTUS with integrity, shines in his first crack at series TV, but the double Oscar winner and a top cast are trapped in a muddled, political thriller about cyber terrorism that is nowhere near as smart as it thinks it is." .

Daniel Feinberg of The Hollywood Reporter noted:

"You never finish a scene thinking De Niro and any of his co-stars did anything interesting together, and in a series about a collaborative investigation, that’s a dramatic dead-end."

Many critics also pointed out the length of the show, which they observed could have been reduced to make it more intriguing. RT’s top critic, Michel Ghanem, of The Wrap notes:

‘At six episodes, ‘Zero Day’ still feels too long, a sign it probably should have just been a Netflix movie.’

Zero Day however fares better on IMDb with a 7/10 average rating based on about 22,000 reviews.

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More About Zero Day on Netlix

The Netflix series starts with a devastating cyber-attack, which results in the death of more than 3,000 people in America. The attacker leaves a message for the public through phones and other digital devices, "This will happen again." This leads to more commotion and uncertainty among the public.

Former President of the United States George Mullen, played by Robert De Niro, comes out of his retirement to head the ‘Zero Day Commission,’ which will investigate the cyber-attack. Mullen must confront personal and professional challenges to find the truth behind the attack before it is too late.

The synopsis of the show, as per IMDB reads:

"In the midst of crisis: how can we discover the truth when it seems that the world is being destroyed by uncontrollable forces? Also, to what extent are conspiracy theories our own inventions or products of our imagination?"

Zero Day is a limited series that premiered on Netflix on February 20, 2025, with six episodes. The show has a stellar star cast comprising Angela Bassett, Connie Britton, Dan Stevens, Lizzy Caplan, Matthew Modine, and Jesse Plemons. The show is created by Eric Newman, Noah Oppenheim, and Michael Schmidt. The show is directed by Lesli Linka Glatter.

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Zero Day is a political thriller series currently streaming on Netflix.

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