“Anthrax spores do not just die — they settle. They lie in wait.”
That chilling reminder leads the first trailer for The Hot Zone: Anthrax, National Geographic’s series about the wave of terror that gripped the country 20 years ago. In the weeks after the 9/11 attacks, several news-media offices and some prominent Democratic politicians were sent envelopes containing the deadly bacterium. Five people died, 17 others were infected, and the investigation would last nearly eight years.
Watch the trailer above.
The Hot Zone: Anthrax follows the parallel stories of Matthew Ryker (Daniel Dae Kim), an FBI agent with a specialty in microbiology, and Dr. Bruce Ivins (Tony Goldwyn), a brilliant microbiologist who becomes embroiled in the hunt to find the 2001 anthrax killer. Ryker risks his career to convince his superiors of the unthinkable — that the United States is under attack again. Ivins works closely with the FBI to uncover who is behind the deadly anthrax letters, while his growing instability and paranoia give way to deeper unnerving discoveries.
Dawn Olivieri, Ian Colletti, Dylan Baker, Morgan Kelly, Denyce Lawton, Carlos Gonzalez-Vio Vanessa Matsui and Enrico Colantoni also star in the true-crime anthology series from 20th Television and Scott Free Productions.
Kelly Souders and Brian Peterson serve as executive producers and showrunners. Scott Free’s Ridley Scott and David W. Zucker also executive produce, along with Jordan Sheehan, Lynda Obst and Daniel Percival.