It was an unprecedented event that shook America to its core, and now it's getting the limited series treatment.
Shortly after the attacks of 9/11 came another attack that had Americans fearing for their lives. They called it Amerithrax. The anthrax attacks of 2001 claimed the lives of five Americans. Now, National Geographic is taking on the challenge of telling the infamous story.
We connected with the stars to discuss The Hot Zone: Anthrax. Daniel Dae Kim had this to say about the limited series:
"I do remember like not opening my mail for like a month because we were all told that it could hit any of us at any time. The investigation in real life took hundreds of agents and spanned several years and that's how determined they were to find the person behind, or the people behind, the attacks."
Kim plays Matthew Ryker, a compilation character, based on the hundreds of FBI agents who investigated the anthrax attacks. That investigation went down in history as one of the FBI's most complex. Kim's co-stars include Tony Goldwyn and Harry Hamlin.
"He became obsessed with this investigation and kind of got sucked into it and it really ended up, without spoiling anything, it really ended up derailing and fully destroying his life.
That was Goldwyn on his character. Goldwyn plays Dr. Bruce Edward Ivins, the real-life microbiologist who wound up getting in over his head when he became obsessed with uncovering the truth about Amerithrax. Goldwyn continued about how National Geographic approached telling this true story:
"They were really meticulous about getting the science right, getting the facts right, even if there were some dramatic licenses taken, that it was in the spirit of the truth."
Having appeared in the critically acclaimed hit series Scandal as the President of The United States, Goldwyn is no stranger to political dramas.
Also starring in the limited series is Harry Hamlin who portrays former NBC anchorman Tom Brokaw, a recipient of the first anthrax note. Brokaw was not harmed, but two NBC employees were among the 22 infected by Amerithrax. Hamlin said:
"This gives us a chance to go in and see three-dimensionally what was happening in and around the story. It's kind of a whodunnit. It becomes much more of a thriller than I ever thought it was. I think people will love it for that reason."
This is the second season of The Hot Zone, the first of which was based on a book of the same name and covered the Ebola outbreak. The Hot Zone: Anthrax premieres Sunday November 28th on National Geographic at 9:00pm ET. The six-part series will also begin streaming on Hulu.
