From Script To Screen: Zero Day
How Much Did The Script For Netflix’s Latest Hit Change From An Early Draft
A lot happens to a pilot script from the first draft submitted to network executives to the time it hopefully airs on television. However, many writers—and even executives are surprised by how many changes there are between the draft that gets greenlit for production and the final product.
Even first-time creators I’ve worked with assume that if a network greenlights their series, then the executives must love the script and have very few additional notes. After all, why else would they agree to invest $5–10 million into a pilot or even $60–100 million or more into a series?
Anytime a writer tells me they’re glad the notes are done, I always say, “Yeah, right.” There are always more notes!
Between table reads, director and actor notes, executives from different departments reviewing the script, feedback based on dailies, and notes on the revisions turned in daily during production—not to mention changes due to location or an actor’s scheduling issues—the tinkering never stops.
And that’s all before post-production, when executives finally see cuts and start weighing in on things they should have noted all the way back in the first draft. Then, of course, there’s ADR, where dialogue is constantly rewritten because executives worry something doesn’t make sense, that the audience won’t be able to follow certain plot points, or an actor’s performance needs tweaking.
The draft that gets greenlit ends up noticeably different from the final product. The plot and characters may remain largely the same, but it’s always fascinating to see how projects evolve.
This is the first in a series of articles I plan to write, examining an early draft of a pilot and comparing it to the final product.
Zero Day Is A Huge Hit For Netflix
The Star-Studded Thriller Is One Of The Most Watched Shows Of The Year
For my first case study, I’ve chosen Netflix’s Zero Day, created by Noah Oppenheim and Eric Newman, with a story also credited to journalist Michael Schmidt. It’s the latest political thriller from Netflix, following the tremendous success of The Night Agent.
Netflix’s content chief, Bela Bajaria, coined the phrase “gourmet hamburger” to describe these shows. While she received some flack for the description, I personally think it’s brilliant. These shows are more serialized and have a higher pedigree than your typical CBS series, but they share similar DNA and probably more audience overlap than you’d expect.
The show was released on February 20 and seems to be a big hit for Netflix. A month after its release it is still in the Netflix top ten both domestically and internationally, which is very impressive. It racked up 1.84 billion minutes of viewers during it’s first week on the Nielson charts.
This isn’t surprising. Zero Day boasts one of the most stacked casts for a series in recent memory—Robert De Niro, Joan Allen, Lizzy Caplan, Jesse Plemons, Dan Stevens, Connie Britton, and many more. Meanwhile, Netflix has become such a behemoth that, according to its latest data dump, even a failed show like Jeff Goldblum’s Kaos had more viewership than most shows on competing streaming services.
It’s rare for a Netflix original series not to spend at least some time in the top ten. Even a show like the recently canceled The Recruit probably had double the viewership as anything on Apple, Peacock or Hulu the past few months.
Eric Newman, the creator of Zero Day, is in many ways Netflix’s answer to Taylor Sheridan—though with a much lower profile and less of a personal brand. My guess is that this is by choice, and he prefers to let the work speak for itself. Netflix could easily put him through its PR machine. Newman has had one of the most successful Hollywood careers of the past few decades and is one of the few examples of an executive/producer transitioning into a writer/showrunner later in their career.
Newman started as an assistant at SNL before becoming an executive at Lorne Michaels’ production company, Broadway Video, where he helped oversee classic films such as Tommy Boy. As a development and production executive, he worked on films like The Family Man, Bring It On, The Hurricane, and Spy Game, and played a major role in the early careers of James Gunn, Zack Snyder, and Eli Roth.
It was Newman who secured the rights to Dawn of the Dead, attached Gunn to write, and gave Snyder his big break as a director. He also produced Children of Men, one of the best films of the last twenty years.
Newman’s first project at Netflix was Hemlock Grove, one of its first original series. He was only a producer on the project, finding the source material and assembling the creative team with Gaumont. His next project with Netflix, Narcos, considerably raised his stock and changed his career path. Newman initially only produced the first season, but after significant behind-the-scenes drama, the original writers and showrunner left, and he took over as showrunner.
Since then, he has created and run Narcos: Mexico, True Story, Griselda, and Zero Day for Netflix, as well as producing seven films—including Rebel Moon, Bright, and Project Power—and executive producing three additional series, including American Primeval, another major Netflix hit in 2025.
His co-writer, Noah Oppenheim, has had an equally impressive career. He started in news, rising through the ranks at MSNBC, where he was involved with Hardball, NBC Nightly News, and helped create Mad Money with Jim Cramer. He later transitioned to screenwriting, selling the script for Jackie (which was eventually made in 2016) and writing The Maze Runner as well as one of the Divergent films.
He even did a stint as a development executive at Reveille after Ben Silverman left to run NBC. Eventually, he returned to news, becoming Senior Vice President of the Today show and later serving as President of NBC News from 2017 to 2023—right around the time Zero Day was greenlit.
All of this is to say: This script came with high pedigree and expectations.
Let’s see how it lives up.
Zero Day Script Analysis
A Blind Read Before Watching The Show
I read the script knowing very little about the plot beyond its impressive cast and the fact that it involved a cyberattack on the U.S. I didn’t watch a trailer, read any reviews, or see any episodes beforehand. I only watched the first two episodes after reading the script.
The Zero Day draft I read was dated September 23, 2022. The project was first announced as being in development in November 2022 but wasn’t officially greenlit until March 1, 2023. If I had to guess, this draft was likely used to secure De Niro’s attachment, which then led to a writers’ room being opened. The show may have only been officially greenlit after more scripts were written—or it may have just taken three additional months to finalize De Niro’s deal. I’m only half joking.
The following are highlights of notes I would have given the writers after reading this draft as if I were a network executive on the project.
I am trying to avoid giving major story notes that would completely change the nature of the project, since the general story beats were presumedly signed off on before writing the script.
These notes are mostly ways that I think the script can be enhanced and improved in order to make the best episode possible and help the story land with the most impact as intended.
For those unfamiliar with the plot, Zero Day follows former President George Banner, who is brought in to assist the current administration after a cyberattack on the nation. Although the attack lasts only sixty seconds, thousands are killed, and infrastructure across the country is severely damaged.
George is soon tasked with leading a commission that has essentially been given carte blanche to do whatever it takes—even significantly breaking the law and Constitution—to determine who is responsible. However, as the pilot progresses, it becomes increasingly clear that George may not be mentally fit for such a massive undertaking.
As George navigates the tricky first few days of being back in the public eye, we are introduced to a large supporting cast of characters: his wife, Sheila, a newly appointed judge on the Second Circuit Court of Appeals; Roger, a young fixer who used to work closely with George; his daughter, Alex, a congresswoman who has a fractured relationship with her father; his trusted steward Oscar; a shady Speaker of the House; a potential Russian terrorist; various CIA agents, old sources, and spies who previously worked with George; a Ben Shapiro/Tucker Carlson news propaganda host, George’s wife’s best friend, and the current President of the United States. There is a lot of characters!
Overall, the script for Episode 1 of Zero Day was a mixed bag. On one hand, it was incredibly well-written and an immensely engaging read. It moves fast, has a fascinating lead character at its center, and sets up an intriguing mystery with plenty of narrative threads for a full season of television. In that sense, it does everything a strong pilot script should.
I’d say it’s better than at least 80 percent of the pilot scripts I’ve read over the past year. It’s clear why Netflix was excited about this project and why it was able to attract such a stellar cast. So from a technical point of view the script was very strong.
That said, I had quite a few notes. There are many issues that kept me from fully embracing the script. I hope some of these concerns were addressed in the final product. It’s a script I was entertained by while reading, but the more I reflected on it, the more problems I found.
I am sure many issues I had with the script are personal, I hold political thrillers like this to a high standard and am a big fan of the conspiracy thrillers of the 70s, as well as shows like 24 and Homeland. Some of my thoughts are overall critiques that apply to the entire script, while others are smaller, page-specific notes that should be relatively easy to fix.
Script Notes For Zero Day Pilot
A very notable issue is the script’s length. The draft I read was 65 pages, meaning the writers likely had to cut ten or more pages before production to keep the episode under 60 minutes—the typical length for a Netflix drama. It’s common for early development drafts to run long since they function as sales documents, designed to persuade decision-makers to greenlight the project. However, most production drafts fall within the 50–55 page range.
Writers often use that extra space in early drafts for additional character development, exposition, or even set pieces, knowing they’ll eventually have to trim them. Zero Day has quite a bit of excess, so I wouldn’t be surprised if entire scenes or characters were cut before filming.
I also have to mention up front how much Zero Day borrows from current political events. Some of these parallels seem intentional, while others are likely coincidental—things the writers couldn’t have foreseen when they first conceived the project. I’ll be curious to see how audiences react. Some may embrace these elements, while others may roll their eyes.
For example, the script features a congresswoman named Alex, who bears a striking resemblance to Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and the Speaker of the House strongly resembles Mike Johnson in both appearance and demeanor. However, the biggest talking point will likely be the decision to depict the former president as suffering from cognitive decline and significant memory issues—though the script is ambiguous enough that this could be a deliberate misdirect.
When this script was written in 2022, Joe Biden’s cognitive functionality was not a widely discussed issue in the news. However, two years later, it became one of the most talked-about topics in the country and played a significant role in the last presidential election.
The writers likely would have changed this element had they not already been in the middle of production at the time. Although the conspiracy theorist in me wonders—did the former head of NBC News, who created this show, know something the public wasn’t aware of? Mostly joking… but you never know. Similarly, in Zero Day, the former president is a one-term leader who chose not to seek reelection following the death of his son.
I definitely fall more in the roll your eyes category when it comes to the script feeling too close to real life events and people. To me the script feels like a show from a different era and something that would have been more successful a decade ago or even during Trumps first term. After a year of non stop politics in the news and a draining election cycle, it’s fascinating that there are three major shows in the first few months of 2025 with the President or White House heavily featured (Paradise, Zero Day, The Residence). I am going to do my best to just focus on the script and not my bias for the subject of the show.
Over my career, I’ve been submitted probably two dozen or more cyberattack scripts and have heard just as many pitches. It’s a popular subject because it feels grounded in reality, carries high stakes, and is a plausible threat. However, most of the projects I’ve encountered in this genre focus on either a group of hackers, generic counterterrorism agents, or an over-the-top Bond type villains attempting to bring down American democracy.
The challenge with cyberattack stories is that they’re not inherently visually compelling—there are often too many scenes of characters sitting at desks, typing on large computers, and spouting technical jargon.
Zero Day’s smartest decision was making the point-of-view character a former president. That’s a fascinating angle and one rarely explored on screen. Here’s a man who was once the most powerful person in the nation, now leading a quiet life, only to be thrust back into the limelight when he’s needed once again. That’s a compelling arc and a strong foundation for a character-driven story. He has regrets, seems lonely, and clearly misses being in charge. Even without an exciting terrorism plot, this character alone would make for an interesting show.
There are certain choices the writers make regarding his portrayal that don’t entirely work (which I’ll detail later), but as a starting point, I really liked the decision to center the show around a former president—it felt fresh and I was immediately on board.
The one drawback of making a show about a former president is that it automatically makes the series political, and most television networks prefer to avoid alienating viewers. Interestingly, the words “Democrat” and “Republican” never appear in the script, which feels a bit forced—especially when dealing directly with the presidency. Instead, the writers position the former president as the “last great unifier,” someone popular on both sides of the aisle.
While it’s not difficult to infer where various politicians in the script fall on the political spectrum—especially given De Niro’s well-known political leanings—I couldn’t help but roll my eyes at some of the script’s workarounds to avoid explicitly stating affiliations.
That said, I completely understand the reasoning. Netflix has a massive international audience and has faced criticism from both the left and the right over its programming choices and the views of its talent. If they can avoid negative tweets and backlash over political portrayals, they probably should. However, decisions like this kept me from fully embracing the script. If it was up to me I would have asked the writers to be more blatant and actually reveal political parties, but I know the network would likely give the note to keep it ambiguous.
The episode’s opening scene is excellent. It’s tense and highly effective. A man, quickly revealed to be former President George Banner, desperately tries to unlock a safe. He struggles to remember the combination, making multiple unsuccessful attempts. Meanwhile, people are attempting to enter his room and break down the door to get to him. The writing is crisp, clear, suspenseful, and very effective. The writers use short sentences, lots of capitalization, and quick cuts between different images and actions to build tension.
Does the scene need to be three pages long? Definitely not—it would be just as effective with two. But regardless, it’s a fast-paced scene that immediately piqued my interest. A former president is desperate to get into his safe while people are after him, trying to break into his room—there’s no way a reader wouldn’t immediately flip the pages to see what happens next.
The script then cuts to three days earlier. This is a trope I dislike and see used far too frequently, but it’s a note that network executives love to give. I have tried hard to push back on this structure and have often advised writers that starting in media res isn’t always necessary. However, once the script reaches the network, seven out of ten times, we receive the note to add a teaser from a few days before.
This is especially common in thriller scripts like Zero Day. And I get it—it’s an easy way to build stakes and suspense, making the audience feel like they’re actively solving a puzzle as they anticipate how the story will lead back to the intense moment from the opening.
The script then spends the next nine pages setting up George and his world before introducing the inciting incident. It’s mostly effective and well written, but I suspect significant cuts were made to this section. I would definitely give the note to trim these scenes in order to help the pacing and get to the inciting incident quicker.
As much as I liked the main character and seeing what life is like for a former president, my mind started to wander. It took too long to establish the conflict and get to the core of what the series is about. That said, the writers make smart choices in delivering information and exposition efficiently, though I would likely give a note to trim certain details and make the exposition feel more organic.
One of the smartest decisions the writers make is introducing the character Anna Sindler, who meets with the former president to discuss potentially ghostwriting his memoir. Since she is an outsider unfamiliar with George, she naturally asks questions, allowing him to provide the necessary information about his background in a way that feels authentic. It also gives the audience a personal connection to Anna, who is quickly killed a scene later after the cyber attack happens. Her death was extremely effective, although I definitely had some misgivings about how that character is brought back later.
This scene also sets up key plot details, such as George’s habit of writing everything down in notebooks, which becomes important later in the episode. Personally, I think too much information is given at once, and the scene comes across as an exposition dump. However, if they scale back the dialogue and shorten the scene, it will be pretty effective.
As an overall note, I didn’t love all the ways the script delivered exposition, it tended to be too simple and on the nose and was missing sophistication. But there is a lot of info to get out in the episode, so I understand the instinct.
The scene where we learn about the cyber attack is well done. Seeing the Secret Service swarm the President’s property, rush him to safety, and then cutting to the news reports shortly after does a great job of setting up the inciting incident and driving the plot forward. The only issue I have—and this is one of my overall notes—is that there is too much reliance on delivering information through TV anchors and news programs. There are at least seven different instances where the show relies on this method of divulging important information.
The next section of the script, which is essentially Act 2, is where I started to have some misgivings about the plot, leading to my #1 overall note for the script—there needs to be BIGGER STAKES or a LOOMING THREAT.
George is reunited with his former aide and current consultant, Roger Carlson, and is told that the new administration would like to use him to bring hope to the American people and rally the troops—essentially, shake hands and give an inspiring speech. The script loses some momentum during these pages. I was definitely missing the sense that this attack could happen again.
The writers set up a mystery surrounding who is behind the attack, emphasizing that the government has no viable suspects beyond a hunch that it might be the Russians. Yes, we see a generic Russian FSB officer acting shady, making ominous phone calls, and later dumping papers and personal items into a fire, but those scenes are too brief to have much impact. I would definitely suggest giving the potential villain more personality and upping the excitement in those scenes so they feel less cliché.
It isn’t until page 36—over 20 pages after the attack happens—that George finally meets with the new President, and we get an inkling that whoever was behind the attack might do it again. My suggestion would be to introduce this idea much sooner.
I also felt that the script lacked a strong emphasis on the destruction caused by the zero day attack and the personal stories that people were facing after such a massive attack. We hear about it through news reports and characters’ conversations, but the audience sees very little of the effects firsthand. The show is much more concerned with the political machinations. This diminishes the impact of such a devastating event, as it gets overshadowed by the government response and family drama of the ex-president.
The plot primarily focuses on how the country needs leadership and reassurance in Act 2, which is interesting, but the stakes of the attack itself get lost. My hunch is that this will be fixed in production, where it will be easier to cut to visuals of destruction and fallout. However, the script would have benefited from more vivid descriptions and specific moments to illustrate how devastating the attack was—and how much worse it could be if it happens again.
The writers should be able to find a happy medium, but in the current draft, there was too much political wheeling and dealing for my taste and I kept wanting to see more of the emotional response and what was happening all over the world.
George agrees to go to Manhattan to rally the troops which leads to a solid scene. It effectively showcases his ability to make an inspiring speech on the fly—he has an Obama-level ability to unify a disgruntled crowd. However, because this moment ultimately propels George into becoming the best person to lead a task force to prevent another attack, it still felt too small.
My underlying note here is that we need a better understanding of George’s presidency—what he accomplished, what he faced, and more details about his history. Outside of being a good speaker and someone respected by both sides of the political spectrum, we don’t learn much about why he is the most effective person to lead the charge in saving the nation. Was he a skilled investigator? Was it his decision-making under pressure? Was it his moral compass? This could easily be addressed in just a few lines of dialogue, but better yet, let’s see some of these things come out in action.
The next major plot development occurs when we meet the current President of the U.S., Evelyn Mitchell, a youthful and elegant politician reminiscent of Anne Richards. She has a good rapport with George, and her anxiety and desperation about the situation come through strongly. She clearly feels in over her head and has so little intel that it helps set the stage for what will become the driving force for the rest of the episode—and, I suspect, the season.
She is setting up a commission that will have extraordinary oversight and essentially possess the combined powers of every law enforcement and intelligence agency and the president wants George to run it.
While this development might feel a little rushed, especially with only two days having passed since the attack, I was able to suspend some disbelief. I would suggest to the writers to show that the President has exhausted all other options or that all of her attempts to find the perpetrators have failed. If there were a bigger threat of another cyberattack, I would likely buy into this decision more.
This idea feels like the type of plot that would usually be introduced one-third of the way into a season, but since Zero Day is a mini-series with only six episodes, it makes sense that they’d incorporate such a drastic development so quickly. Ironically, this is the kind of plot development that 24 would introduce halfway through the season. That felt more natural because it followed 12 episodes of Jack Bauer doing everything he could to catch the bad guys, even though all those events took place in a single day. In Zero Day, it happens after just three days, but only after 20 minutes of story.
Regarding the commission, one piece of dialogue from the President stands out, where she convinces George to join:
GEORGE BANNER: You’re going to grab people off the street without warrants?
PRESIDENT MITCHELL: Actually… You are. But only if you have to.
If this were real life, would we really want an 82-year-old ex-President (De Niro’s real age, though I’m not sure about the character’s age) doing the grabbing? My guess is that it’s more of an embelishiment, but it still feels odd. This is before we find out that George has dementia-related issues. If the audience is already skeptical about the hero due to his age, it’s not great to give them more reasons to doubt him once his health issues are revealed. Again, the note is more about understanding and showing why George is really the best person for this job, which I felt was missing.
The rest of the episode focuses on George mulling over the offer to join the commission while reconnecting with old contacts, like the current CIA Director and an Israeli spy, whom he contacts through a dry cleaner’s voicemail. These scenes are fine and establish that George still has deep ties and valuable resources. However, they feel more frustrating than essential.
In both cases, these characters give George information that the audience doesn’t have access to—either behind closed doors or through one-sided phone calls. If the writers choose to use this tactic, I’d recommend giving the audience more to work with. Offering a clue or a mystery that George must piece together would help the audience understand why he’s the best person to lead the commission and do the job.
If the finished episode has dialogue where George is being told things like, “What I’m about to tell you, I hope doesn’t spook you,” and then leaves the audience in the dark, it will likely be frustrating to the audience.
There are some smaller notes in the script as well, like: Would George and his wife really throw a party at their house to celebrate her winning the election so soon after the attack? It would be like Karen Bass throwing a party amid the LA fires. At least George’s daughter calls them out on it and makes a joke.
I understand the need for a bigger set piece where all the main characters can interact, and it’s more effective to see George starting to experience memory issues and getting upset over the Sex Pistols song that’s not actually playing in a group setting, but it still seemed like an odd choice to have a party in the middle of everything that is happening.
George’s daughter, Alexandra, is an interesting character—she’s a congresswoman and Washington insider who has a complicated relationship with her dad. She’s close with some of his enemies, but is still very protective of him. She has an edge and snark that feels realistic, offering a different energy than the other characters.
She also shares great rapport with Roger, her father’s associate, and I enjoyed the script hinting that these two are either currently in a secret relationship or have recently had a bad breakup. I hope the show doesn’t drag out the reasons behind Alexandra and her dad’s falling out, instead of teasing it over and over.
Speaking of characters, there are a lot to keep track of, and many don’t serve a major purpose in the script yet. I wouldn’t be surprised if some of them were cut or saved for episode two to make a bigger impact. This would free up space and allow the writers to give more depth to Alexi, the Russian FSB officer, who, so far, is the only viable suspect and real antagonist outside of the Speaker of the House, who is currently a thorn in the President’s side in regard to the commission.
By the end of the script, I started to lose confidence in the story and the writers. Once they introduced the idea that George might be suffering from dementia, my interest began to wane. Maybe it’s because it feels too close to Joe Biden and what we saw last year on the debate stage, but watching a person who is described as “the most powerful person in American history” when he joins the commission at the end of the episode start to flail and lose his cognitive abilities feels like “a hat on a hat,” and isn’t exciting to watch.
The scene where the story catches up to the teaser and shows George trying to remember the combination to his lock while people try to break into his office was my least favorite scene in the script. The teaser implied that George was in a hurry and needed the contents of the safe before the people breaking in got inside. It suggested that George was in danger, and what made it thrilling was wondering why someone would be after a former President.
However, what really happens is that George goes inside to retrieve his notebook from the safe where he jotted down the names from his spy friend. The people breaking in turn out to be Secret Service agents, worried about him because he’s been in his office too long and he locked the door behind him.
Would the Secret Service really break down a door like that when there is no real threat? It felt like George was only in the room for ten minutes. Sure, there’s some broken glass, but next thing you know, there are twenty agents with guns rushing into the office. There was also no reason for George not to tell them to enter or to say that he’s okay. It was just a cheap and anticlimactic resolution to a very exciting teaser, as if the writers didn’t have a strong solution for why George was in that situation and simply wanted to resolve it easily.
There is enough ambiguity in the script to suggest that the writers might have something else up their sleeve, and that George’s memory lapses aren’t caused by a health decline. For example, he’s seen writing music lyrics instead of important names in his notebook, having visions of the reporter we clearly saw being killed, and realizing that his chef/house manager, with whom he’s been speaking to in multiple scenes, hasn’t been there and retired months ago. The script definitely seems to imply it’s dementia, but I wouldn’t be surprised if there is more to what it is happening (although I don’t love the idea of some sort of espionage being behind his memory issues)
Wouldn’t his wife have noticed his decline and stopped him from joining the commission? Isn’t he still lucid enough to know he shouldn’t lead the commission if he’s seeing people who aren’t really there? There’s nothing in the script to imply that George is truly the only person for the job, and having severe memory issues will definitely not help him find the person responsible for the attack.
Although I’m being critical, I do believe these notes are easy to execute, and I think that if the writers addressed even half of them, the script would improve immensely. I’m very curious to watch the final product and see what changes are made.
However, I do have more reservations about the season after analyzing the episode and doing a deeper dive into the script. As entertaining and well-written as the script is, and despite some stellar elements, I am less intrigued by the general premise than I was after my first read. It all reads as a tad silly and not as smart as it thinks it is being.
Initially, I was fascinated by the main character and thought it would be exciting to view a crisis through the eyes of an ex-president who’s called into action. But after sitting with it for a few days, I realized that the series is essentially 24, but with Jack Bauer replaced by Joe Biden, and that’s a pitch I’m less excited about. As much of a coup it is to have Robert De Niro in his first television role, it feels like the project would have been better served with an actor in their 50s or 60s.
But now, I’m going to watch the first episode and see if my thoughts have changed!
ZERO DAY – Episode Review
Analysis Of The First Two Episodes Of The Netflix Series
I have now seen the first two episodes of Zero Day.
Most of my comments will focus on episode one, but since certain plot developments and characters from the pilot script were held until episode two, I thought it was best to watch both.
Overall, while there were a lot of improvements from script to screen, my general thoughts about the show didn’t change too much. However, many of the changes definitely helped address issues I had with the script.
If I had to guess, around 70% of the draft I read remained the same in the episode. The general story didn’t change much, but certain elements were much more effective.
There were small differences, which are common when a script goes into production. George Banner is now George Mullen (my guess is that “George Banner” didn’t clear for legal reasons). Casting choices also significantly changed certain characters. House Speaker Richard Dreyer, described as 45 and overweight in the script, is played by 65-year-old Matthew Modine, who is very trim. President Mitchell, originally described as a youthful and elegant Ann Richards type, is played by Angela Bassett, who is 66.
Certain characters, like Evan Green and Evalynn Whitesell, were cut from the first episode and didn’t appear until the second. Whitesell is now a completely different character—no longer Sheila Mullen’s best friend but instead a woman who was part of George’s administration and had an affair with him. She decides to join the commission to help George. It should be noted that Connie Britton and Robert De Niro have some of the least convincing chemistry I have ever seen from a couple who had an illicit affair…
The biggest change to the script—one that was my #1 overall note—is that the stakes are significantly higher because the show introduces a looming threat. When the Zero Day attack first happens, everyone receives a message on their phone saying, “This Will Happen Again.” While this was a simple fix (and maybe not as elegant as what I would have suggested), it significantly improved the episode, adding an enormous amount of tension, suspense, and stakes to every plot point.
The President forming such a morally compromising commission so quickly felt less forced, and even having a familiar face like George lead it felt a bit more believable. They also added a chyron depicting how many days have passed since the attack, which seems like an attempt to raise stakes—though ultimately, it doesn’t add much.
The episode also has much better pacing, as a lot of unnecessary scenes were trimmed. The beginning is shorter and gets to the Zero Day attack more quickly. There’s less exposition in the scene with the ghostwriter, and they cut unnecessary scenes of her in the car prepping for her meeting.
Additionally, the episode does a better job of showing the destruction and incorporating personal stories of everyday people affected by the attack. Obviously, seeing the visual representation on the news helps, but even small moments—like a father with his son on the subway as they lose power (a moment not in the script)—go a long way in conveying the emotional impact of the attack. I was still craving more of this, as the show is clearly more focused on the political machinations and government response, but at least there was some attempt to show the POV of everyday people affected.
The scene in NYC where Banner addresses the protesters is handled much better in the final episode. It feels bigger, more impactful, and less like an information dump. You get a real sense of how angry and confused people are, and the show effectively cuts between images of the destruction while Banner speaks, making the scene feel more powerful.
That said, many of the issues I had with the script still bothered me in the final episode. The scenes with Lebedeva, the Russian FSB officer, still felt cliché and lacked suspense. He has even less screen time in the final cut, and by the end of the two episodes, I wasn’t engaged with that storyline at all.
Also, the scenes where George gets important information from his sources behind closed doors or through one-way phone calls still felt incredibly frustrating and just uninspired.
I did like how they changed the plot involving a character shorting the stock market. In the script, it was tied to the Speaker of the House, but in the show, it’s connected to Jesse Plemons’ character, Roger. This change gives Roger more depth and a stronger reason to be invested in the commission (though I can’t say I loved how it was executed in episode two, particularly with the Clark Gregg character).
Roger and Alexandria’s scenes are also significantly different between the script and the final product. There’s more tension and history between them. Initially, I thought they had removed the romantic angle, but they just held that reveal until episode two, where it turns out they have this strange friends-with-benefits dynamic. The writers also made the smart decision to reveal the reasons behind Alexandria’s strained relationship with her father in the first episode, which helps their dynamic and works well.
Banner’s memory issues are handled slightly better in the final episode. There’s more style and sound design in the scenes where he experiences lapses or hallucinations, adding ambiguity as to whether something bigger—possibly a conspiracy—is at play rather than just cognitive decline.
That said, it still feels a little too close to real-life events involving our former president, and it’s not necessarily something I’m eager to see on TV right now. However, I did appreciate that the show doesn’t outright imply Banner is suffering from dementia (though he still might be) and instead leans into the mystery more than the script did.
The scene with the Secret Service breaking down his door while George tried to get into his safe still didn’t work for me. It still felt like a weak resolution to an otherwise effective teaser, and I still questioned why neither George nor his wife discussed his memory lapses—or the fact that he thought he had been talking to his chef, who retired months ago. The show still hasn’t really explained why George is the only person who should be leading the commission, especially given everything happening to him. But then again, I guess you wouldn’t really have a show otherwise.
Overall, as much as I think the script improved between the draft I read and the final product, I left feeling the same way. Zero Day is an engaging enough and competently made series, that has a great cast and some thrilling moments, but ultimately fees a tad too silly for my taste and I just didn’t love many of the choices the creators made regarding plot and characters. I’ll most likely finish the series, since it is so short, and like I said it’s not a terrible way to spend an hour by any means.
Like many Netflix series, it will probably be a very big hit, and forgotten by the end of the year.
