Angela Bassett Reflects on Playing a Black Woman President in Zero Day: 'I Can’t Believe How Timely It Was' (Exclusive)

Angela Bassett is madame president. 

The actress, 66, spoke with PEOPLE about playing a Black female president in the upcoming Netflix political thriller Zero Day at the show’s premiere event on Tuesday, Feb. 18 at The Plaza Hotel in New York City.

"It's something that we were so close to actually achieving in reality," Bassett said in reference to former Vice President Kamala Harris' presidential campaign last year. "I can't believe how timely it was and that these moments have dovetailed in the way that they have."

"So it was very humbling and very grateful to offer my fictional president," she continued. "But even the representation of it, as a woman, as a Black woman, I think, will have an impact that perhaps we'll see, if not today, if not tomorrow, maybe in a few years."

Bassett shared her hopes for future leadership in the United States, saying, "You never know. Some brilliant woman is coming."

Zero Day is a limited series starring Robert De Niro as former U.S. President George Mullen. He leaves retirement to head the Zero Day Commission, dedicated to finding the perpetrators of a dangerous cyberattack that has spread across the country. Bassett joins the cast as Evelyn Mitchell, the steadfast current president who entrusts Mullen with his assignment.

"As disinformation runs rampant and the personal ambition of power brokers in technology, Wall Street, and government collide, Mullen’s unwavering search for the truth forces him to confront his own dark secrets while risking all he holds dear," the synopsis teases. 

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The cast also stars Jesse Plemons, Lizzy Caplan, Connie Britton, Joan Allen and Matthew Modine. Eric Newman, Noah Oppenheim and Michael S. Schmidt co-created the show and executive produced alongside De Niro and director Lesli Linka Glatter.

Bassett has long been a veteran of the big and small screen, having had her breakthrough as Tina Turner in 1993’s What’s Love Got to Do with It. She went on to star in How Stella Got Her Groove Back and Marvel’s Black Panther, Avengers: Endgame and Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. On television, she has notably worked with Ryan Murphy in multiple seasons of American Horror Story and on the fan-favorite procedural drama 9-1-1. 

In 2024, Bassett accepted an honorary Oscar award.

Speaking to PEOPLE that year for the Women Changing the World issue, the actress said, "I've always been a hard worker. You have to know what to say no to as well as what to say yes to. And during this time, a lot of things have been worthy of me saying yes to."

Zero Day premieres on Feb. 20 on Netflix.