Source: Warrick Page / Prime Video
The discourse online since the debut of Prime Video’s new series “Swarm” is enlightening, hilarious and inspiring. The thrilling series created by Donald Glover and Janine Nabers follows an obsessive fan, who goes to increasingly violent lengths for her favorite R&B singer. Fans share their opinions about the chilling new show online, which has sent co-star Chloë Bailey trending on Twitter.
“Swarm” stars Dominque Fishback, Chloë Bailey and Damson Idris. Fishback nails the lead character Dre, who represents the millions of obsessive fans around the world. The actress’ performance proves that she’s one of Hollywood’s brightest stars.
Though the story is based upon a fictional character, viewers recognize that the Houston-based show feels very familiar to one of the industry’s greatest performers — Beyoncé.
Series creator and showrunner Nabers spoke to Den of Greek prior to the “Swarm” premiere at SXSW to discuss the legal and creative intricacies around creating a fictional chAracter loosely based on the world’s biggest star.
“Amazon is a very successful corporation so nothing gets past them that is not finely combed through,” Nabers shared. “When we set out to write this show, we were focusing on a feeling – the feeling that this pop star gives. Obviously, Beyoncé is the most famous Black woman singer in the world. People will project that onto the character, which is fine. But it’s really a feeling. Beyoncé and Donald are also really good friends so it’s not like we’re throwing anyone under the bus on this show.”
The creators were deliberate about including a message before each episode, which reads: “This is not a work of fiction. Any similarity to actual persons , living or dead, or actual events, is intentional.”
Nabers notes that the text isn’t just a creative attempt, but a sincere promise. Some of the series writing staff include Nabers, Glover, Glover’s brother Stephen and Malia Obama. They spent six months researching real life events involving obsessive standom and true crime before inserting their creepy lead character, Dre, into them.
“We start with the saying ‘this is not a work of fiction,’ which is true,” Nabers recalls. “When you’re looking at the seven episodes that span a two and a half year period, we are basically showing things that have existed on the internet as stories or news stories and then we put our main character in the middle of all of that.”
From the first episode “Stung,” the series puts a creative spin on true life events. Nabers confirmed to PopBuzz that the story was based on a rumor of a woman named Marissa Jackson who committed suicide upon seeing Beyoncé’s visual album Lemonade, because it confirmed that Jay-Z had cheated on her. Similar to Glover and Nabers’ hit FX series “Atlanta,” “Swarm” follows their tradition to explore real life events which create exciting and twisted television.
“As a Black woman approaching any story, I think America has projected an idea of Blackness onto storytelling so there’s a formula people are used to watching,” Nabers reflects on the Black TV writing experience. “Subverting a narrative, subverting a character, thinking outside the box, adding a surrealistic element to a story is always more powerful and elevated in my opinion. Atlanta set that tone. I think this show will be setting that tone more in the space of horror.”
Fans “swarm” the Internet with their reactions online. Many of the tweets reflect the first five minutes in episode one with Bailey and Idris. Chloë trends on Twitter, because her “Swarm” debut features Idris blowing her back out. Some fans are disappointed in the actress. While others argue, “Who tf cares?”
Aside from the sex scene, many fans praise the stars for their performance and the stellar cast formed to create the dark series. Other notable stars like singer Billie Eilish and Paris Jackson round out the notable cast.
Have you watched it yet? Stream “Swarm” on Prime Video now.
