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Zero Day (Taiwanese TV series)

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This article is about the Taiwanese television series. For the American television series, see Zero Day (TV series).
Zero Day
Chinese零日攻擊
Hanyu PinyinLíngrì gōngjí
GenreSpeculative fiction
Written byHuang Peng-Jen
Ting Chi-wen
Directed byLo Ging-zim [zh]
Lin Chih-ju [zh]
Wu Chi-en
Chao Hsuan
Liu Yi
Su I-hsuan
StarringIssey Takahashi[1]
Cindy Lien [zh][2]
Chapman To[3]
Kaiser Chuang[2]
Ko I-chen [zh][2]
Chen Yuu[4]
Akira Chen[4]
Yu An-shun[4]
Cheng Yu-Chieh[5]
Country of originTaiwan
Original languagesMandarin
Taiwanese Hokkien
Japanese[2]
English
No. of episodes10
Production
Executive producerLin Shih-ken
ProducerCheng Shin-mei
Production locationTaipei
Production companiesZero Day Cultural and Creative Co., Ltd.
BudgetNT$230,000,000

Zero Day (Chinese: 零日攻擊; lit. 'Zero day attack') is an upcoming 2025 Taiwanese speculative fiction television series, set against the fictional scenario of a Chinese People's Liberation Army invasion of the island of Taiwan, and the grey-zone events leading up to it.[2][6][7]

Plot

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The elderly incumbent president of Taiwan loses re-election to a younger female challenger and prepares to hand over the office. As the political transition is underway and inauguration day approaches, a PLANAF Shaanxi Y-8 anti-submarine 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 operation),[8] 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 operation for the missing plane, China implements a naval blockade surrounding Taiwan, leading to the complete halt of international shipping to the island, and a subsequent stock market crash and bank run. 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.[9]

A hybrid warfare campaign begins spreading disinformation through sympathetic influencers on social media to erode Taiwanese morale, while Chinese hackers hijack Taiwan's local broadcast media, using AI-generated deepfakes of the Taiwanese president declaring war on China to deceive Taiwan's citizenry into surrendering. As Chinese infiltrators and their local collaborators release convicts from prisons en masse, armed groups of fifth columnists and gang members begin blocking roads. As the ensuing chaos progresses, PLAAF commandos make landfall on Kinmen.

Production

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The series was announced at a press conference on July 23, 2024, with the first trailer released on the same day.[10] Preparation for the series began in December 2022, inspired by the ongoing Russo-Ukrainian War and the Chinese military exercises around Taiwan conducted in protest of Nancy Pelosi's 2022 Taiwanese state visit.[11] Principal filming commenced in March 2024, with plans to finish by November 2024.[4] The series is supported by the Taiwanese Ministry of Culture's "1 plus 4-T-content plan",[10] and is produced by Zero Day Cultural and Creative Co., Ltd., with funding provided by the Taiwan Creative Content Agency [zh], Chunghwa Telecom, Kaohsiung Film Fund [zh], and Robert Tsao.[4] Cheng Shin-mei (Chinese: 鄭心媚) is the producer and screenwriter of the show,[12] while Lin Shih-ken (Chinese: 林仕肯) serves as executive producer. Filming was also assisted by the Republic of China Armed Forces,[13] with a ROCN warship and real CM-32 armoured vehicles appearing in some scenes.[citation needed]

Director Lo Ging-zim explains that after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, 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.[10] 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 to 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.”[14]

Hong Kong actor Chapman To, who plays the character of "Brother Qiang", a Chinese Communist Party 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".[15][3]

Release

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The series will consist of ten episodes, and is planned to release in May 2025.[1][16] Each of the episodes will be filmed by different directors.[10]

A 17-minute trailer was released in July 2024 during simulated air raids in Taiwan's Han Kuang Exercise.[17][18]

References

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  1. ^ a b "Taiwan to release TV series about China's invasion". Radio Free Asia. July 25, 2024.
  2. ^ a b c d e "日劇男神高橋一生首演台劇 杜汶澤笑稱收錢演得尷尬 | 娛樂". CNA (in Chinese). Taiwan. 2024-07-23. Retrieved 2024-07-23.
  3. ^ a b Heidi Hsia (July 25, 2024). "Chapman To plays a villain in first Taiwanese drama". Yahoo! Singapore.
  4. ^ a b c d e Pan Taoyu (July 23, 2024). "《零日攻擊ZERO DAY》華麗卡司亮相！17分鐘前導片曝高規格製作、高話題度". Lihpao (in Chinese).
  5. ^ Lin Lixuan (July 17, 2024). "攸關台灣未來　莊凱勛一口答應演出". Want Weekly.
  6. ^ Yian Lee (July 25, 2024). "Preview Video of Taiwanese TV Series Zero Day Sparks Anxiety About a Chinese Invasion". Time Magazine.
  7. ^ "Taiwan TV series depicting China invasion sparks anxious debate". The Straits Times. July 25, 2024.
  8. ^ Stilwell, Blake (2024-08-08). "'Zero Day': New 10-Part Series Imagines What a Chinese Invasion of Taiwan Might Actually Look Like". Military.com. Retrieved 2024-08-16.
  9. ^ Hayley Wong (July 26, 2024). "Taiwan's Zero Day drama portraying PLA attack sparks emotion, worry and criticism". South China Morning Post.
  10. ^ a b c d "Trailer released for Taiwanese cross-strait war drama 'Zero Day'". Focus Taiwan. July 24, 2024.
  11. ^ Cheung, Eric (2024-08-05). "Taiwan is making a TV show about a Chinese invasion. And it's hitting close to home". CNN. Retrieved 2024-08-16.
  12. ^ "Taiwanese series on China invasion sparks debate". Bangkok Post. July 25, 2024.
  13. ^ "台海戰爭劇「零日攻擊」 敏感議題惹關注". World Journal (in Chinese). Retrieved 2024-07-23.
  14. ^ Gan, Nectar; Cheung, Eric. "Taiwan is making a TV show about a Chinese invasion. And it's hitting close to home". cnn.com. CNN. Retrieved 7 August 2024.
  15. ^ "零日攻擊zero day台海戰爭片:高橋一生、杜汶澤出演！2025播出". 新識界 (in Chinese). July 26, 2024.
  16. ^ 李世宸; 劉毓琦 (20 August 2024). "「零日攻擊」邀外媒辦座談會　預告最快明年5月上映". 民視新聞網Formosa TV News network (in Chinese (Taiwan)). Retrieved 29 August 2024.
  17. ^ Micah McCartney (July 26, 2024). "China Invades Taiwan in New TV Drama". Newsweek.
  18. ^ Sara Merican (July 26, 2024), "Taiwanese Series 'Zero Day' Trailer About Chinese Invasion Sparks Emotional Response", Deadline Hollywood
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