''Zero Day Attack'' ( zh, t=零日攻擊, l=Zero day attack) is an upcoming 2025 Taiwanese

speculative fiction Speculative fiction is an umbrella term, umbrella genre of fiction that encompasses all the subgenres that depart from Realism (arts), realism, or strictly imitating everyday reality, instead presenting fantastical, supernatural, futuristic, or ...

television series, set against the fictional scenario of a

People's Liberation Army The People's Liberation Army (PLA) is the military of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and the People's Republic of China (PRC). It consists of four Military branch, services—People's Liberation Army Ground Force, Ground Force, People's ...

invasion of Taiwan. It is set to air at 9:00 p.m. (TST) on August 2, 2025 in Taiwan and on August 15, 2025 in Japan via

Amazon Prime Amazon Prime (styled as prime) is a paid subscription service of Amazon which is available in many countries and gives users access to additional services otherwise unavailable or available at a premium to other Amazon customers. Services inclu ...

, the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II.

Plot

The elderly incumbent

president of Taiwan The president of the Republic of China, also known as the president of Taiwan, is the head of state of the Republic of China (Taiwan), as well as the commander-in-chief of the Republic of China Armed Forces. Before 1949 the position had the ...

loses to a younger female challenger. As the political transition is underway and inauguration day approaches, a

PLANAF The People's Liberation Army Naval Air Force (PLANAF; zh, c=中国人民解放军海军航空兵, p = Zhōngguó Rénmín Jiěfàngjūn Hǎijūn Hángkōngbīng) is the naval aviation branch of the People's Liberation Army Navy. History Histor ...

Shaanxi Y-8 The Shaanxi Y-8 or Yunshuji-8 ( zh, c=运-8, p=Yùn Bā) aircraft is a medium-size, medium-range transport aircraft produced by Shaanxi Aircraft Corporation in People's Republic of China, China, based on the Soviet Antonov An-12. It has become on ...

antisubmarine warfare aircraft goes down in the waters southeast of Taiwan (implied to be an act of surreptitious internal sabotage as part of a

false flag A false flag operation is an act committed with the intent of disguising the actual source of responsibility and pinning blame on another party. The term "false flag" originated in the 16th century as an expression meaning an intentional misrep ...

operation), with the plane's sole surviving injured crewman being rescued and picked up by a nearby ROCN warship. Under the guise of conducting a

search and rescue Search and rescue (SAR) is the search for and provision of aid to people who are in distress or imminent danger. The general field of search and rescue includes many specialty sub-fields, typically determined by the type of terrain the search ...

operation for the missing plane, the

People's Republic of China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

implements a naval

blockade A blockade is the act of actively preventing a country or region from receiving or sending out food, supplies, weapons, or communications, and sometimes people, by military force. A blockade differs from an embargo or sanction, which are ...

surrounding Taiwan, leading to the complete halt of international shipping to the island, and a subsequent

stock market crash A stock market crash is a sudden dramatic decline of stock prices across a major cross-section of a stock market, resulting in a significant loss of paper wealth. Crashes are driven by panic selling and underlying economic factors. They often fol ...

and

bank run A bank run or run on the bank occurs when many Client (business), clients withdraw their money from a bank, because they believe Bank failure, the bank may fail in the near future. In other words, it is when, in a fractional-reserve banking sys ...

. The United States and Japan increase their military readiness levels as the Taiwanese military mobilizes in preparation for invasion, with foreign governments starting to evacuate their citizens from Taiwan.

Production

The series was announced at a press conference on July 23, 2024, with the first trailer released on the same day. Preparation for the series began in December 2022, inspired by the ongoing

Russo-Ukrainian War The Russo-Ukrainian War began in February 2014 and is ongoing. Following Ukraine's Revolution of Dignity, Russia Russian occupation of Crimea, occupied and Annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation, annexed Crimea from Ukraine. It then ...

and the Chinese military exercises around Taiwan conducted in protest of Nancy Pelosi's 2022 Taiwanese state visit. Principal filming commenced in March 2024, with plans to finish by November 2024. The series is supported by the Taiwanese

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's "1 plus 4-T-content plan", and is produced by Zero Day Cultural and Creative Co., Ltd., with funding provided by the ,

Chunghwa Telecom Chunghwa Telecom (), officially Chunghwa Telecom Co., Ltd., is the largest integrated Telecommunications company, telecommunications service provider in Taiwan, providing Public switched telephone network, PSTN, mobile phone, and broadband se ...

, , and Robert Tsao. Cheng Shin-mei ( zh, t=鄭心媚) is the producer and screenwriter of the show, while Lin Shih-ken ( zh, t=林仕肯) serves as executive producer. Filming was also assisted by the

Republic of China Armed Forces The Republic of China Armed Forces ( zh, t=中華民國國軍) are the national military forces of the Taiwan, Republic of China (ROC), which is now based primarily in the Taiwan Area but Republic of China (1912–1949), formerly governed Mai ...

, with a ROCN warship and real CM-32 armoured vehicles appearing in some scenes. The show features ten episodes and ten directors in the first season. Producer Cheng Hsin-mei also wrote one of the episodes. Director Lo Ging-zim explains that after the

Russian invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, , starting the largest and deadliest war in Europe since World War II, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, conflict between the two countries which began in 2014. The fighting has caused hundreds of thou ...

, he considers Taiwan to be "the most likely next flashpoint... drama is not presenting the truth but metaphor as to how we might react to the challenges in reality", and that ''Zero Day'' aims to show the public how to face a potential invasion. The director made the decision to weaken Taiwan's government and society in their portrayal, setting a worst-case scenario which they hope to empower the audience to avoid. Lo said “I believe every Taiwanese person has their own version of Zero Day attack in their mind. We were just the first to make it into a series.”

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

actor

Chapman To Chapman To (, born 8 June 1972), born Edward Ng Cheuk-cheung (), is a Hong Kong-Taiwanese actor. He is best known for his roles in films such as ''Infernal Affairs'' and ''Initial D (film), Initial D''. He is also the founder of his own multimedia ...

, who plays the character of "Brother Qiang", a

Chinese Communist Party The Communist Party of China (CPC), also translated into English as Chinese Communist Party (CCP), is the founding and One-party state, sole ruling party of the People's Republic of China (PRC). Founded in 1921, the CCP emerged victorious in the ...

operative, expressed in a media interview that "it is embarrassing to play the role of a Hongkonger sent by the People's Republic of China to infiltrate Taiwan, but acting such a role is not difficult because there are many such people in Hong Kong".

Release

The series will consist of ten episodes, and is planned to release at 9:00 p.m. on August 2, 2025 in Taiwan and August 15, 2025 in Japan, the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II. Each of the episodes will be filmed by different directors. A 17-minute trailer was released in July 2024 during simulated air raids in Taiwan's

Han Kuang Exercise The Han Kuang Exercise () is the annual military exercise of the Republic of China Armed Forces in Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen and Matsu Islands, Matsu for combat readiness in the event of an attack from the People's Liberation Army of the People's Re ...

. The first episode was premiered at the 2025 Copenhagen Democracy Summit on May 13, following a discussion with Janet Hsieh and screenwriter Hsin-Mei Cheng.

Reactions

A review in '' Small Wars Journal'' said the series "perfectly illustrates the multifaceted nature of modern

hybrid warfare Hybrid warfare was defined by Frank Hoffman in 2007 as the emerging simultaneous use of multiple types of warfare by flexible and sophisticated adversaries who understand that successful conflict requires a variety of forms designed to fit the goa ...

... blend ngconventional military tactics with cyber operations, psychological manipulation, and exploitation of societal vulnerabilities". Writing in ''

The Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' (''WSJ''), also referred to simply as the ''Journal,'' is an American newspaper based in New York City. The newspaper provides extensive coverage of news, especially business and finance. It operates on a subscriptio ...

'', Walter Russell Mead said it "offers both an intimate look at Taiwanese society and an invaluable introduction to a looming great power conflict that could upend all our lives."

References

External links