‘The Hot Zone’: Anatomy of a Plague

“The Hot Zone”

Image Credit: National Geographic/Amanda Matlovich

Julianna Margulies stars as Dr. Nancy Jaax in the National Geographic scripted limited series The Hot Zone, based on Richard Preston’s bestseller about the Ebola virus infilitrating the U.S. in 1989. “Things that struck me about her personally were that she just doesn’t see herself as anything but a woman going to work,” Marguilies said when she and the cast appeared at the TCAs earlier this year. “I looked at her character as a hero, because she really emphasized what a threat this was and got the ball rolling to stop it from spreading. But to her, it was just another day at the office, really.”
“The Hot Zone”

Image Credit: National Geographic

Dr. Musoke (Bohang Moeko) and a nurse tend to Charles Monet (Neil McCarthy) and wheel him into the trauma unit at a Nairobi hospital. “We were not here to gross anybody out, we want to engage everybody,” said executive producer Kelly Souders. “But it is gonna have some raw scenes that will certainly have you on the edge of your seat.”
“The Hot Zone”

Image Credit: National Geographic/Amanda Matlovich

Lieam Cunningham plays Wade Carter, an Ebola expert and former professor and mentor to Dr. Nancy Jaxx at the Reston Monkey Facility. “On a plane, I used to completely ignore coughing,” Cunningham said. “I don’t ignore coughing anymore. I try to count the seats, how far this cough is away. And public transports, people sweating on public transport concerns me now.”
“The Hot Zone”

Image Credit: National Geographic/Amanda Matlovich

Topher Grace plays Dr. Peter Jahrling, a civilian virologist, in the USAMRIID lab. “I did this because I loved the book. When I was in eighth grade I read it. It was the first book that just totally– it scared the shit out of me,” Grace said. “It was the scariest thing I’d ever read. It might to this day be the scariest thing I ever read. Because it was real.”
“The Hot Zone”

Image Credit: National Geographic/Amanda Matlovich

Dr. Peter Jahrling (Topher Grace), a civilian virologist, slices open a monkey specimen. “This isn’t a fictional monster that’s chasing us,” Grace said. “It’s real. It’s still alive. And also it’s invisible. So that’s why I wanted to do it. And they did such a great job writing the script and I love the cast so much.”
“The Hot Zone”

Image Credit: National Geographic/Amanda Matlovich

Julianna Margulies plays Dr. Nancy Jaax. “I think the biggest issue is that everyone thinks that because Ebola is found in these far away African villages that it has nothing to do with us here in the U.S.,” Marguilies said. “And to see something that happened in 1989, to see that Ebola touched U.S. soil and that the CDC’s reaction to it when you watch the rest of the show was basically we dodged a bullet.”
“The Hot Zone”

Image Credit: National Geographic/Casey Crafford

(L to R): Melina Danport (Grace Gummer), Trevor Rhodes (James D’Arcy) and Wade Carter (Liam Cunningham) as they prepare to help a young sick girl in Zaire. “What we kind of embraced the very first time we saw the book was how each person’s perspective, each character’s perspective, really changes as the series goes on,” said executive producer Brian Peterson. “And, how our perspective as an audience, who we think we’re rooting for and who’s actually making the most poignant point in each episode, kind of shifts back and forth.”
“The Hot Zone”

Image Credit: National Geographic/Casey Crafford

This is a portrayal of a sick pregnant woman in Zaire. “I always found myself to be a pretty– you know, I wash hands after the bathroom and regular times — but I definitely wash my hands before every meal, you know, I find myself doing it a lot more,” said Paul James, who plays lab tech Ben Gellis. “I notice, on the subway in New York, people coughing a lot more than I used to.”
“The Hot Zone”

Image Credit: National Geographic/Casey Crafford

Wade Carter (Liam Cunningham), sits with a young boy in Zaire. “I remember there was a lot of stories about Ebola the whole time we were shooting,” Margulies said. “Every day there seemed to be another story about Ebola in small print, which I found really disturbing — that it wasn’t on the front page. Especially when you’re working on something like this. But it just makes our show more relevant and more timely, you know?”
“The Hot Zone”

Image Credit: National Geographic/Amanda Matlovich

Here’s a peek inside the dissecting room at the monkey facility. “It was set up to be the biggest catastrophe in the United States,” Souders said. “Had things not broken slightly here and there, it would’ve been a disaster.”
“The Hot Zone”

Image Credit: National Geographic/Amanda Matlovich

Lieutenant Colonel Jerry Jaax (Noah Emmerich) looks for a loose monkey in the facility.”The people who were working, the researchers, the pathologist, are all saying, “No, no, no, no, no. We didn’t dodge a bullet. We need to find a cure. There’s not cure. There’s nothing you can take. This has a 90 percent fatality rate,'” Margulies said.
“The Hot Zone”

Image Credit: National Geographic/Amanda Matlovich

Workers clean and sanitize the monkey facility. “Yes, we’re educated a little bit more about Ebola now, but what aren’t we looking for now?” Peterson asked. “You know, what is the next version of that right now? When we’re looking for Ebola, what else is in the cooler?”
“The Hot Zone”

Image Credit: National Geographic/Casey Crafford

Wade Carter (Liam Cunningham) visits the Isle of Plagues on Lake Victoria. “Part of the reason that this feels so poignant right now is because you know, this book was written in ’95, and yet here we are today in the middle of another outbreak right now,” Peterson said.

“The Hot Zone”

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“The Hot Zone”

“The Hot Zone”