Daniel Dae Kim and Tony Goldwyn Star and Spar in Nat Geo's "The Hot Zone: Anthrax"

It's a story vaguely recalled but not well known, making it worthy of retelling. The second installment of National Geographic's Hot Zone limited series franchise, titled Hot Zone: Anthrax, details this fraught time over three nights, beginning November 28, and streaming the next day on Hulu.

Like other Nat Geo scripted projects, it's based on facts, but it features a composite character at the center. Daniel Dae Kim (pictured at top) plays Matthew Ryker, an intense FBI agent. Showrunners Kelly Souders and Brian Peterson recently explained to MediaVillage why they could tell this story best by using a composite person.

"The making of a TV show out of facts is very complicated because it still needs to be a TV show, for starters," Souders said. "This is not a documentary, which we are very up front about. So, you need to be brought along on a story with characters and arcs, the way you would on a normal TV show if it didn't have anything to do with true events. But also, this case took place over seven years, so there were many FBI agents on it. There were just dozens and dozens and dozens of people who were involved in this story. In six hours, six parts, you can't even remotely touch on all those people. So, it became very clear to us right up front that we wanted to fictionalize an FBI agent who could take us through the whole gamut."

The role of FBI Special Agent Ryker is his first lead after more than three decades as an actor. Portraying an American hero is a dream role.

"There are many actors who are much more talented than I, who have worked in this business, much longer than I have, who've never had that opportunity," Kim said during a Zoom interview. "In my case, it was 31 years, and I'm just very grateful."

Kim was also pleased that no big deal was made about the hero being Asian. He simply is -- and happens to be the best agent for the job because of his background as a methodical microbiologist.

To prepare for this role, Kim, who emigrated from Korea as a toddler, spoke with three FBI agents – two of whom are Asian – while preparing for this role.

"They recognized it existed," Kim said of racism. "They did their best to manage it, to mitigate it, and, and then they did their job because the one thing that unites every FBI agent is a fierce patriotism and a belief that they're doing good and doing right. And, you know, the other thing I was really surprised to learn was that FBI agents are highly educated."

And so, we have a microbiologist FBI agent hellbent on capturing the monster mailing war-grade biochemical anthrax to journalists and politicians. Ryker has one more motivating factor: Flight 77, which crashed into the Pentagon at 9:37 on 9/11, flew right over him. The vibrations from the plane shook him to his marrow. Ryker was stuck in traffic as the news about the World Trade Center was on the radio. Those moments continue to haunt him.

"There are some nuances to him that I really wanted," Kim noted. "I hadn't been able to play as an actor; for instance, what does it mean to be adopted as an Asian American? And how do you define American when you look the way I do? These were all really worthwhile explorations, and all led me to want to take this role."

The search for the maniacal killer leads to microbiologist Bruce Ivins. A twitchy, creepy fellow, Ivins desperately wants to be liked, and women who sense danger in milquetoast-looking men would steer clear of this ingratiating fellow. Behind that mustache, which never rises to the level of porn-stache, short-sleeved white shirts with the requisite pocket protector, is Tony Goldwyn (pictured below).

Goldwyn's character is based on a real person, and the actor relied on a book about Ivins to inform his portrayal.

"Ivins is someone who is extremely bright, and I think a very gifted scientist, and desperate to be acknowledged," Goldwyn said from his home on Block Island.

That stench of desperation trails Ivins, who wants to be heralded for his work as a scientist at the United States Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases.

"Part of that is a need to be acknowledged for his gift," Goldwyn said. "But another part of it is to be socially accepted, and to be a great guy, and to be liked, and to be sort of a paragon in every aspect of his life."

While Ivins cracks dad jokes and lives with his family, he leads a secret life. "Emotional intimacy is something that I think was really a strange concept for Bruce," Goldwyn added. "At the same time, I think he's a pathological narcissist."

All evidence leads straight to Ivins, and it's no spoiler to say that because it was international news. Yet, as the showrunners noted, his death preceded formal charges. Before that, though, the rogue microbiologist and the FBI agent/microbiologist share a couple of taut scenes during an interrogation.

"We were super excited" to play these scenes, Goldwyn recalled. "The first one especially, it's like a one-act play. I mean, I think the scene lasts almost ten minutes, which in television you don't get to do very often."

While many forgot those days when we did not know if our mail would kill us, Goldwyn remembered them all too well. Living in Connecticut, where one of the postal workers died, he and his wife kept their mail on the porch for a couple of weeks. They packed Cipro, the antibiotic known to counter anthrax, in their children's backpacks.

Those days of perpetual anxiety have faded, and perhaps it seems odd to remind people of them. Yet, that scary time made for a perfect second installment of The Hot Zone. The first, which was telecast in 2019 and starred Julianna Margulies, became the network's highest-rated scripted series.

"The Hot Zone could be a kind of a super title, and it gives us permission to [produce] suspense-thriller storytelling," Carolyn Bernstein, National Geographic's executive vice president, global scripted content and documentary films. "It is such a great genre. For us to find suspense thrillers that are a great brand fit is the challenge."

Given thatHot Zone could keep going, is COVID the next natural installment?

"We have certainly talked about it," Bernstein shared. "There are ways into COVID-19 that will feel more brand relevant than others. The way in for us has to be hard science. It feels like we are in the second act right now, and we don't know what the third act will be."

The Hot Zone: Anthraxwill be telecast over three consecutive nights at 9 p.m. on Nat Geo beginning November 28.

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