Why The Rotten Tomatoes Score For Robert De Niro’s New Netflix Show Is So Low

Robert De Niro is the face of Netflix’s Zero Day, but his star power and talent aren’t enough to earn the 2025 TV show a “Fresh” score on Rotten Tomatoes. The political thriller limited series, created by Eric Newman, Noah Oppenheim, and Michael Schmidt, revolves around a catastrophic cyberattack in the United States. A former President, George Mullen (played by De Niro in the Zero Day cast), subsequently gets called out of retirement to lead an investigation into the attack before it can happen again.

Over the course of the Netflix show’s six episodes, De Niro’s character faces many challenges and discovers some shocking revelations, all of which lead to the truth behind the cyberattack. While thrillers with numerous twists often perform well on Netflix, Zero Day hasn’t fared too well in critics’ reviews. As mentioned above, even De Niro’s involvement in the miniseries can’t persuade most viewers to give Zero Day positive scores on Rotten Tomatoes.

Zero Day Has 54% On Rotten Tomatoes – Why It’s So Low

Robert De Niro’s Netflix Series Is Deemed “Rotten”

Unfortunately, Zero Day falls six percentage points below the minimum requirement for a “Fresh” Rotten Tomatoes score, deeming it “Rotten.” As of the writing of this article, the Netflix miniseries has a 54 percent Tomatometer score, averaged from almost 70 reviews. Zero Day‘s Critics Consensus on the review aggregation website reads:

“Zero Day has plenty of gravitas thanks to its all-star cast led by Robert De Niro, but this high-concept series’ plotting is a little too goofy for it to take itself so seriously.”

Overall, those who gave Zero Day bad reviews critiqued the political thriller for its implausibility, cheesy lines, dreadful dullness, underwhelming developments, and the story’s lack of cleverness and complexity (but many also called it convoluted). As Verne Gay from Newsday said, “Interesting idea, otherwise deadly dull.” And that quote is only brushing the surface of what lies in Zero Day‘s negative reviews. Rotten Tomatoes pulled a more thorough, interesting take from Sam Adams from Slate‘s thought on the Netflix limited series. He wrote:

“What we get instead is a pundit-brained muddle designed to exploit national anxieties while studiously avoiding any hint of a point of view, riffing on recognizable figures but ignoring the context that produced them.”

Zero Day’s Audience Score Is Around The Same On Rotten Tomatoes

The Political Thriller Has A 55% Audience Score

In many situations, TV shows or movies that receive “Rotten” Rotten Tomatoes scores from critics (on the Tomatometer) can make up for the negative press with their Audience Scores (now called the Popcornmeter) on the website. For example, The Super Mario Bros. Movie has a 59 percent Tomatometer score on Rotten Tomatoes, but its Popcornmeter score is 95 percent. Sadly, that is not the case for Zero Day. The Popcornmeter for Robert De Niro’s Netflix political thriller TV series is almost the same as its Tomatometer as it sits at 55 percent as of the writing of this article.

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The limited series is not only considered “Rotten” by most critics, but the general audience has also deemed it “Rotten.” The flaws they found while watching the TV show Zero Day mostly align with critics’ reviews. Viewers’ Rotten Tomatoes entries claim that the political thriller is forgettable, full of plot holes, and boring. Other reviews stated that Zero Day contains unrealistic scenarios, poor character development, cringeworthy writing, and a messy plot. Of course, the reviews aren’t all bad. Some found Zero Day to be an exciting, engaging miniseries that provides an intriguing representation of the state of America today. Plus, most agreed that the cast is phenomenal.

Robert De Niro & The Cast Is One Of Zero Day’s Bright Spots

The Actors Are Zero Day’s Saving Grace

Among all the reviews on Zero Day‘s Rotten Tomatoes page, whether good or bad, is praise of the cast. Many single out Robert De Niro’s performance, which makes sense, given that he is a renowned actor and the star of the Netflix limited series. However, some also applaud Lizzy Caplan, Joan Allen, Connie Britton, Dan Stevens, Angela Bassett, and Jesse Plemons for their roles in Zero Day. Essentially, the entire cast gives it their all in the political thriller. As a result, the only thing critics and viewers can agree on is that Zero Day features several impressive performances.

Despite all the praise for the actors and actresses in Zero Day, the average critic and audience member gave the show a negative review. Perhaps the cast is the miniseries’ saving grace, but their performances aren’t enough to deem the show “Fresh” on Rotten Tomatoes. Nevertheless, Zero Day is trending in Netflix’s top 10, meaning its future remains open.

TV Show

My Favorite TV Shows
My Watchlist

Zero Day

5/10

Release Date

2025 – 2024

Network

Netflix

Writers

Dee Johnson

Sources: Rotten Tomatoes, Slate, Newsday