The most shocking scene in Zero Day signifies start of deadly cyberattack

Zero Day kicks off with a shocking scene during Episode 1, that comes at the start of a cyberattack that’s part of a global conspiracy.

Zero Day is a new Netflix thriller that stars Robert De Niro as a former President and features a star-studded cast that includes Angela Bassett, Jesse Plemons, Lizzy Caplan, Dan Stevens, and Joan Allen.

The show sees America at the center of a devastating cyberattack that’s christened ‘Zero Day,’ and De Niro’s character called back into service to head up an investigative task force.

All eight episodes of the series dropped on Netflix on February 20, 2025, and the series certainly starts with a bang. Or more specifically a crash. Meaning Episode 1 SPOILERS ahead…

The most shocking scene in Zero Day is also a serious jump scare

After a tense pre-credit sequence, the series starts properly by flashing back three days, with ex-President George Mullen beginning his day with a swim, some breakfast, and a meeting with a political ghostwriter called Anna Sindler, who represents a publishing house that wants to know where the memoir he’s supposed to be writing is.

They have an awkward conversation, where it becomes clear that Mullen isn’t writing the book, and also that he doesn’t have any interest in explaining himself to a ghostwriter. But their exchange ends with him promising that a draft is coming soon.

Sindler leaves by car, calling her office from the back seat. But she isn’t far from the house when a traffic light dies, and her phone signal disappears. “Must be some kind of dead zone,” says the driver, as the words “This will happen again” appear on Anna’s cell screen.

Netflix

As she’s reading the message, a train plows into the vehicle and flips it over, with the car then exploding in a spectacular fireball. The moment comes quite out of the blue, presumably kills both driver and passenger, and signifies the start of a deadly nationwide attack.

The show then cuts to a new report, where CNN anchor Wolf Blitzer says: “We’ve received reports of not only widespread outages impacting multiple regional power grids, but of computer systems that control transportation, communications, and other infrastructure completely hijacked, with safety warnings overridden. Early estimates suggest a significant but unknown number of casualties.

This shocking early scene therefore grabs the viewer from the off, while also putting a face on this tragedy in advance of the drama to come.

Zero Day is now streaming on Netflix, while you can head here for more binge-worthy shows on the streamer.