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    Jesse Ventura

    This article is about the Taiwanese television series. For the American television series, see Zero Day (American 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 People's Liberation Army invasion of Taiwan.[2][6][7]

    Plot

    The elderly incumbent president of Taiwan loses to a younger female challenger. As the political transition is underway and inauguration day approaches, a PLANAF Shaanxi Y-8 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 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, the People's Republic of 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]

    Production

    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]

    The show features ten episodes and ten directors in the first season. Producer Cheng Hsin-mei also wrote one of the episodes.[14]

    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 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.”[15]

    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".[16][3]

    Release

    The series will consist of ten episodes, and is planned to release on June 4, 2025.[1][17] 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.[18][19]

    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.[20]

    Reactions

    A review in Small Wars Journal said the series "perfectly illustrates the multifaceted nature of modern hybrid warfare... blend[ing] conventional military tactics with cyber operations, psychological manipulation, and exploitation of societal vulnerabilities".[21] Writing in The Wall Street Journal, 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."[22]

    See also

    References

    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. ^ Chiang, Joy. "War drama 'wake-up call' to Chinese invasion threat". taipeitimes.com. Taipei Times. Retrieved 14 May 2025.
    15. ^ 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.
    16. ^ "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.
    17. ^ 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.
    18. ^ Micah McCartney (July 26, 2024). "China Invades Taiwan in New TV Drama". Newsweek.
    19. ^ Sara Merican (July 26, 2024), "Taiwanese Series 'Zero Day' Trailer About Chinese Invasion Sparks Emotional Response", Deadline Hollywood
    20. ^ https://copenhagendemocracysummit.com/2025/sessions/3701/zero-day-movie-war-in-the-taiwan-strait
    21. ^ ""Zero Day" TV Series Illustrates What A Chinese Invasion of Taiwan Could Look Like", Small Wars Journal, March 15, 2025
    22. ^ Mead, Walter Russell. "Opinion | The War of Revision Is Coming". WSJ. Retrieved 2025-06-05.
    Credit: Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zero_Day_(Taiwanese_TV_series)

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