Zero DayCast Reveals How AOC, the Clintons and Other Political Figures Influenced Their Characters (Exclusive)

Mar. 15, 2025

Robert De Niro in ‘Zero Day’.Photo:JOJO WHILDEN/Netflix

JOJO WHILDEN/Netflix

A modern-day political thriller, Netflix’sZero Daytells the story of a beloved and former U.S. president whose reputation is questioned after he’s tasked with leading a government-sanctioned investigation into a national cyber attack.

While the inciting incident for the series is not real, Newman tells PEOPLE that took inspiration from “this crisis of truth that has gone on, not just in America, but elsewhere.” Although he says that “we never identify who’s who in this story,” the cast shares how they drew inspiration from various real-life political figures in their portrayals of their characters, with De Niro, who plays former President George Mullen, explaining that they drew from “compilation of leaders and people.”

Joan Allen in ‘Zero Day’.Courtesy of Netflix

Courtesy of Netflix

“That helped immensely for me,” the actor continues, adding that he pulled from his experiences “just meeting people over the years.”

Bill and Hillary Clinton on Jan. 20, 2025.SHAWN THEW/POOL/AFP via Getty

SHAWN THEW/POOL/AFP via Getty

As for Mullen’s dynamic with his wife, Sheila Mullen (Joan Allen), a former first lady and nominee to the federal bench,BillandHillary Clintonserved as a reference point. Director Lesli Linka Glatter “talked to me about this as a partnership: It’s Bill and Hillary,” Allen, 68, toldVanity Fairbefore explaining to PEOPLE that the two married politicians served as “a benchmark, or just kind of an indicator of this kind of relationship.”

“It’s a partnership,” she tells PEOPLE. “That was what was most important to Lesli and to me that the relationships between Sheila and George feel equal. That they are each other’s best advisors and that they trust each other that much. And so that was kind of the standard that Lesli wanted to emphasize.”

Matthew Modine and Lizzy Caplan in ‘Zero Day’.JOJO WHILDEN/Netflix

While “pretty deliberate in not making any of these characters easily traceable to one specific real-life person,” Caplan, 42, says, she pulled from a “grab bag” of inspiration. “There are vague shades ofA.O.C. [Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez], but there’s also shades ofChelsea Clintonand theBush daughters,” she explains.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Nov. 19, 2024.Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty

Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty

“They exist in all countries now and on all sides of the political spectrum. There were a couple of probably recognizable ones in there,” he continues, teasing potential one-to-one comparisons. “But I looked far and wide at all the different kinds of tropes of these guys and tried to create something that was a little bit original but still just as annoying.

Dan Stevens in ‘Zero Day’.JOJO WHILDEN/Netflix

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Zero Dayis now streaming on Netflix.

source: people.com