Plot Synopsis

Based on Richard Preston's 1995 nonfiction book of the same name, THE HOT ZONE is a six-part limited series that tells the true story about the origins of Ebola, a highly infectious and deadly virus from the central African rain forest, and its arrival on U.S. soil in 1989. When this killer suddenly appeared in monkeys in a scientific research lab in the suburbs of Washington, D.C., there was no known cure. A heroic U.S. Army scientist, Dr. Nancy Jaax, working with a secret military specialized team put her life on the line to head off the outbreak before it spread to the human population. THE HOT ZONE is a dramatic, high-stakes scientific thriller with a courageous, brilliant and determined heroine at its center. THE HOT ZONE premiered May 27-29, 2019 at 9pm ET/PT on National Geographic Channel.
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On Wednesday, May 29, 2019 from 9pm-Midnight ET/PT, National Geographic Channel premiered the finale of this limited series, debuting back-to-back new episodes and a special:

"Quarantine" (9pm): Inside the primate research facility, unforeseen dangers arise. Nancy Jaax works tirelessly in Biosafety Level 4 to find out why the virus is behaving differently in human victims than expected. With the daunting task of euthanizing monkeys, unforeseen dangers arise, and even the strongest of the team are pushed to the brink. The families of the employees are quietly gathered to protect others from possible exposure, and Jaax is forced to make an impossible choice between her family and her duty to her country.

"Hidden" (10pm; finale): An already volatile situation inside the infected research facility boils to a head. With Nancy Jaax stepping up while those around her fall, exhaustion threatens the precision needed to sterilize the threat. Their efforts to contain panic are threatened when the press arrives and neighbors become aware of the danger next door. Jaax is forced to confront her mentor, Dr. Wade Carter, when a situation spills out of the monkey facility and puts people on the outside in danger. Jaax ultimately must face the ramifications of trying to balance her dangerous career and her loving family. Longtime rivals Dr. Carter and Travis Rhodes reach an impasse that could determine how many more people outside the lab have been exposed.

"Going Viral: Beyond the Hot Zone" (11pm; special): This one-hour documentary special combines the dramatic real-life stories of viral close encounters, scientific investigations and archival news clips to chronicle one of the most terrifying medical crises of our time. It follows scientific researchers, Ebola survivors, policy and decision makers, and the real-life subjects of THE HOT ZONE, Nancy and Jerry Jaax, to capture the truth behind one of the deadliest viral infections known to mankind. The hour long documentary features interviews with Dr. Nahid Bhadelia, who has served as a front-line physician providing care to Ebola patients in Sierra Leone and will be deployed to the Uganda/Democratic Republic of Congo border to address the current Ebola outbreak; Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, who was a key decision maker in the U.S. response to the Ebola outbreak; and Dr. Pardis Sabeti, who discovered Ebola mutations and was named TIME magazine "Person the Year" in 2014 as a leading Ebola fighter. GOING VIRAL tells the stories of the people on the front lines who are tracking, researching and fighting the deadly virus. For more information about the Ebola Virus visit the CDC: Centers for Disease Control.