A new political series called Zero Day is in the works at Netflix, and writers/executive producers Eric Newman and Noah Oppenheim have tapped Robert De Niro to star, marking the legendary film actor’s first-ever regular role in a television show.
As Variety reports, the story for Zero Day comes from producer Newman, NBC News President Oppenheim, and Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Michael Schmidt. There are few details out about the series’ plot, but De Niro is said to play a former US President. The actor will executive produce the show, as will Jonathan Glickman of Panoramic Media.
Known for his work in films like The Godfather Part II, Taxi Driver, and Goodfellas, De Niro has never starred in a TV show of his own. Zero Day is another prestige entertainment score for Netflix, which distributed Martin Scorsese’s De Niro-starring gangster epic The Irishman in 2019 and has a longstanding deal with Neman. The producer served as a producer on The Watcher and showrunner for the series Narcos and Narcos: Mexico, and will next executive produce the streamer’s series Griselda.
Earlier this year, De Niro appeared in David O. Russell’s latest film Amsterdam. He’s also set to pull double duty in Wise Guys, an upcoming film by Barry Levinson in which the actor will play both the crime boss Frank Costello and the crime boss Vito Genovese. Ahead of these projects, look back at De Niro’s 10 best performances.
