Robert De Niro is officially set to make his debut as the lead of a TV series.
Netflix has given a series order to Zero Day, a six-episode conspiracy thriller that will star the two-time Oscar winner. The limited series, which courted De Niro late last year, comes from Narcos showrunner Eric Newman, former NBC News president Noah Oppenheim and New York Times writer Michael S. Schmidt. Lesli Linka Glatter (Homeland, Mad Men) has signed on to direct all six installments.
“I am a lifelong fan of Robert De Niro. To have him as a producing partner and star in this show is beyond my wildest dreams,” Newman said in a statement. “And Lesli Linka Glatter has directed so many of my favorite episodes of television; she was our clear first choice to direct this show. I am grateful to Netflix for their continued faith and support and thrilled to be in business with the amazing creative team of Noah, Lesli, and Jonathan [Glickman, also an exec producer] on this timely (and terrifying) series.”
The description for Zero Day reads: “How do we find truth in a world in crisis, one seemingly being torn apart by forces outside our control? And in an era rife with conspiracy theory and subterfuge, how much of those forces are products of our own doing, perhaps even of our own imagining?”
Newman, Oppenheim — who left NBC News in January after five-plus years running the division — and Schmidt are credited as creators, with Newman and Oppenheim writing. All three will executive produce with De Niro, Panoramic Media’s Glickman and Glatter.
De Niro is repped by CAA, Grubman Shire and RMG; Newman, by CAA, Hansen Jacobson and Rowe PR; Oppenheim, by CAA and Entertainment 360; and Glatter, by CAA, Anonymous Content and Lichter Grossman.
