Swarm (TV Series)
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''Swarm'' is an American
satirical Satire is a genre of the visual arts, visual, literature, literary, and performing arts, usually in the form of fiction and less frequently Nonfiction, non-fiction, in which vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, ...
black comedy Black comedy, also known as black humor, bleak comedy, dark comedy, dark humor, gallows humor or morbid humor, is a style of comedy that makes light of subject matter that is generally considered taboo, particularly subjects that are normally ...
television
miniseries In the United States, a miniseries or mini-series is a television show or series that tells a story in a predetermined, limited number of episodes. Many miniseries can also be referred to, and shown, as a television film. " Limited series" is ...
created by Janine Nabers and
Donald Glover Donald McKinley Glover Jr. (; born September 25, 1983), also known by his musical stage name Childish Gambino (), is an American actor, comedian, musician, and filmmaker. While he studied at New York University and after working in Derrick ...
. It follows Dre ( Dominique Fishback), a young woman whose obsession with a pop star takes a dark turn. The series debuted on March 17, 2023, on
Amazon Prime Video Amazon Prime Video, known simply as Prime Video, is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming television service owned by Amazon. The service primarily distributes films and television series produced or co-produced by ...
. It received positive reviews from critics, and Fishback's performance in the series garnered widespread acclaim, receiving a nomination for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie at the 75th Primetime Emmy Awards. The series received two additional nominations, including Outstanding Writing For A Limited Or Anthology Series Or Movie for Nabers and Glover for the episode "Stung".


Synopsis

The series tells the story of Dre, a young woman deeply obsessed with Ni'Jah, a world-famous popstar whose fanbase is known as "The Swarm". The show is a deep dive into Dre's life, her desire, her fandom, and how elusive Ni'Jah influences her lives, which takes her to a dark, unexpected turn.


Cast and characters


Main

* Dominique Fishback as Andrea "Dre" Greene, a young woman whose obsession with Ni'Jah, a world-famous popstar, leads her on a dark and murderous path across the United States


Recurring

* Chloe Bailey as Marissa "Ris" Jackson, Dre's foster sister


Guest

* Damson Idris as Khalid, Marissa's boyfriend * Rory Culkin as Marcus, a man Dre meets at the club and goes home with * Karen Rodriguez as Erica, Marissa's friend and boss * Paris Jackson as Hailey, a stripper who has an abusive boyfriend and who goes by the name Halsey * X Mayo as Cheeks, Dre's boss at the strip club who is also a stripper * Atkins Estimond as Reggie, a man Dre is hunting who tweeted negative things about Marissa and Ni'Jah * Byron Bowers as George, a sound man whom Dre uses to get closer to Ni'Jah * Stephen Glover as Caché, a rapper and Ni'Jah's husband, a
pastiche A pastiche () is a work of visual art, literature, theatre, music, or architecture that imitates the style or character of the work of one or more other artists. Unlike parody, pastiche pays homage to the work it imitates, rather than mocking ...
of
Jay-Z Shawn Corey Carter (born December 4, 1969), known professionally as Jay-Z, is an American Rapping, rapper, businessman, and record executive. Rooted in East Coast hip-hop, he was named Billboard and Vibe's 50 Greatest Rappers of All Time, the ...
*
Billie Eilish Billie Eilish Pirate Baird O'Connell ( ; born December 18, 2001) is an American singer-songwriter and musician. She first gained public attention in 2015 with her debut single "Ocean Eyes (song), Ocean Eyes", written and produced by her broth ...
as Eva, a women's empowerment cult leader who takes Dre under her wing *
Kate Lyn Sheil Kate Lyn Sheil (born June 13, 1985) is an American actress. She has had roles in independent films like ''You're Next'', '' V/H/S'', '' The Color Wheel'', '' The Sacrament'', and ''House of Cards''. Early life Sheil was born and raised in Jers ...
as Cricket, a girl who offers Dre a place to stay during
Bonnaroo Bonnaroo (or Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival) is an American annual four-day music festival developed and founded by Superfly Presents and AC Entertainment. Bonnaroo has taken place at what is now Great Stage Park, a 700-acre (280 ha) far ...
* Victoria Blade as Salem *
Leon Leon, Léon (French) or León (Spanish) may refer to: Places Europe * León, Spain, capital city of the Province of León * Province of León, Spain * Kingdom of León, an independent state in the Iberian Peninsula from 910 to 1230 and again fro ...
as Harris, Marissa's father who blames Dre for her death *
Rickey Thompson Rickey Thompson (born February 6, 1996) is an American actor, comedian, and Internet personality. He rose to prominence for comedic videos he posts to Instagram, and previously Vine. Thompson starred in the YouTube Red series '' Foursome'' (201 ...
as Kenny, a man who works at a phone repair store in Houston, who refuses to fix Marissa's phone for Dre * Heather Alicia Simms as Loretta Greene, a detective in the "real world" who has started to piece together that these killings have a common thread, the victims have all insulted a
superstar A superstar is someone who has great popular appeal and is widely known, prominent, or successful in their field. Celebrities referred to as "superstars" may include individuals who work as actors, musicians, athletes, and other media-based profe ...
with a vicious fan base on social media *
Kiersey Clemons Kiersey Nicole Clemons (born December 17, 1993) is an American actress. She is known for her role in the 2015 comedy-drama film '' Dope'', playing Cassandra "Diggy" Andrews. Subsequently, she went on to co-star in '' Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising ...
as Rashida, a graduate student with whom Dre falls in love *
Cree Summer Cree Summer Francks (born July 7, 1969) is an American-Canadian actress and singer. She is best known for her extensive work in animation, voicing characters such as Elmyra Duff in ''Tiny Toon Adventures'' and related media, Susie Carmichael ...
as Jackie, Rashida's mother *
Norm Lewis Norm Lewis (born June 2, 1963) is an American actor and baritone singer. He has appeared on Broadway and in London's West End, film, television, recordings and regional theatre. He is also noted for his wide vocal range. Lewis was the second ...
as Wilbur, Rashida's father * Jayden Braddock as Pedestrian (uncredited) In addition, Nirine S. Brown co-stars as Ni'Jah, a pop star whom Dre idolizes. She is a pastiche of
Beyoncé Beyoncé Giselle Knowles-Carter ( ; born September 4, 1981) is an American singer, songwriter, actress, and businesswoman. With a career spanning over three decades, she has established herself as one of the most Cultural impact of Beyoncé, ...
.


Episodes


Production


Development

In February 2021,
Donald Glover Donald McKinley Glover Jr. (; born September 25, 1983), also known by his musical stage name Childish Gambino (), is an American actor, comedian, musician, and filmmaker. While he studied at New York University and after working in Derrick ...
signed an overall deal with
Amazon Studios Amazon MGM Studios is an American film and television production and distribution company owned by Amazon, and headquartered at the Culver Studios complex in Culver City, California. Launched on November 16, 2010, it took its current name on O ...
. One of the projects in development included ''Hive'', which would revolve around a figure inspired by
Beyoncé Beyoncé Giselle Knowles-Carter ( ; born September 4, 1981) is an American singer, songwriter, actress, and businesswoman. With a career spanning over three decades, she has established herself as one of the most Cultural impact of Beyoncé, ...
, with Janine Nabers acting as co-creator and showrunner. Glover is also credited as creator and executive producer, and directed the first episode.


Writing

Glover compared the series to "post-truth ''
Piano Teacher Piano pedagogy is the study of the teaching of piano playing. Whereas the professional field of music education pertains to the teaching of music in school classrooms or group settings, piano pedagogy focuses on the teaching of musical skills t ...
'' mixed with '' The King of Comedy''". Glover and Nabers wanted to create an anti-hero story, using
Tony Soprano Anthony John Soprano, portrayed by James Gandolfini, is a fictional character and the protagonist of the HBO crime drama television series ''The Sopranos''. He is a member of the American Mafia, Italian-American Mafia and, later in the series, ...
and
Don Draper Donald Francis "Don" Draper, born Richard "Dick" Whitman, is a fictional character and the protagonist of the AMC television series ''Mad Men'' (2007–2015), portrayed by Jon Hamm. At the beginning of the series, Draper is the charismatic yet en ...
as inspiration.
Malia Obama The family of Barack Obama, the 44th president of the United States, is a prominent American family active in law, education, activism and politics. Obama's immediate family circle was the first family of the United States from 2009 to 2017 du ...
is among the writers of the series. Nabers said, "We really wanted to give her the opportunity to get her feet wet in TV and see if this is something she wants to continue doing."


Casting

In April 2022, Dominique Fishback was announced as the lead actress of the series, also joining as a producer. Glover contacted Fishback to play the role of the lead's sister. Fishback convinced Glover to give her the lead role. The series also stars Chloe Bailey as Dre's sister, Marissa and Damson Idris as Marissa's boyfriend.


Music

On March 17, 2023, the original soundtrack was released. The
extended play An extended play (EP) is a Sound recording and reproduction, musical recording that contains more tracks than a Single (music), single but fewer than an album. Contemporary EPs generally contain up to eight tracks and have a playing time of 1 ...
included accompanying music from the series performed by Donald Glover and
Kirby Kirby may refer to: Buildings * Kirby Building, a skyscraper in Dallas, Texas, United States * Kirby Lofts, a building in Houston, Texas, United States * Kirby Hall, an Elizabethan country house near Corby, Northamptonshire, England * Kirby Ho ...
.


Release

''Swarm'' premiered at the 2023
South by Southwest South by Southwest (SXSW) is an annual conglomeration of parallel film, interactive media, and music festivals and Convention (meeting), conferences organized jointly that take place in mid-March in Austin, Texas. It began in 1987 and has conti ...
Film Festival on March 10, 2023. All seven episodes were released on March 17, 2023, on
Amazon Prime Video Amazon Prime Video, known simply as Prime Video, is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming television service owned by Amazon. The service primarily distributes films and television series produced or co-produced by ...
.


Reception

''Swarm'' has received positive reviews from critics, with the performance of Dominique Fishback receiving ubiquitous praise. On the
review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews and ratings of products and services, such as films, books, video games, music, software, hardware, or cars. This system then stores the reviews to be used for supporting a website where user ...
website
Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...
, ''Swarm'' holds an approval rating of 87%, based on 68 critic reviews. The website's critics consensus reads, "''Swarm'' can be as unpleasant as a hornet sting, but Dominique Fishback's ferocious performance and the creators' bold creative swings add up to a truly subversive take on toxic fandom."
Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...
, which uses a
weighted average The weighted arithmetic mean is similar to an ordinary arithmetic mean (the most common type of average), except that instead of each of the data points contributing equally to the final average, some data points contribute more than others. The ...
, has assigned the series a score of 66 out of 100 based on 26 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". At
RogerEbert.com ''RogerEbert.com'' is an American film review website that archives reviews written by film critic Roger Ebert for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' and also shares other critics' reviews and essays. The website, underwritten by the ''Chicago Sun-Times ...
, Nick Allen gave the series 3.5 out of 4 stars, calling it a "blood-splattered pop culture provocation" that "plays out like a funhouse mirror reflection of very real, however bizarre, trending topics of the recent past." He also wrote that Donald Glover's directorial pilot episode was "terrific" and that "the series' satire is all the more heartbreaking and compulsively watchable because of ominiqueFishback's dedication to every facet of Dre." ''
TVLine ''TVLine'' is a website devoted to information, news, and spoilers of television programs. It covers various topics including the latest news on television, reviews, latest releases, and more. History In late 2010, ''Entertainment Weekly''s ...
'' named Fishback the "Performer of the Week" for the week of March 25, 2023, for her performance in the seventh and final episode "Only God Makes Happy Endings". The site wrote, "Fishback gets a shot at the spotlight and knocks it out of the park, blowing us away with a fascinating portrait of a obsessive fan who gets pushed over the edge and goes off on a deranged killing spree. Fishback was phenomenal throughout the series, but she saved the very best for ''Swarm'''s final episode, shape-shifting before our eyes to show us yet another layer to Dre."


Accolades


See also

* ''
All About Lily Chou-Chou is a 2001 Japanese experimental coming-of-age film, written, directed, and edited by Shunji Iwai. The narrative follows several 14-year-old Japanese students, examining how enigmatic solo musician Lily Chou-Chou influences their lives. The film ...
'', a 2001 Japanese film with a similar plot * ''
Perfect Blue is a 1997 Japanese animated psychological thriller film directed by Satoshi Kon. It is loosely based on the novel by Yoshikazu Takeuchi, with a screenplay by Sadayuki Murai. Featuring the voices of Junko Iwao, Rica Matsumoto, Shiho Niiya ...
'', a 1997 anime film with a similar theme directed by Satoshi Kon


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Swarm (TV series) 2020s American black comedy television series 2020s American drama television miniseries 2020s American horror comedy television series 2020s American satirical television series 2023 American television series debuts 2023 American television series endings Amazon Prime Video original programming American English-language television shows American thriller television series Psychological thriller television series Television series about fictional musicians Television series about fictional serial killers Television series about show business Television series about social media Television series by Amazon MGM Studios Television series created by Donald Glover Television series set in 2016 Television series set in 2017 Television series set in 2018 Television shows set in Atlanta Television shows set in Houston Television shows set in Los Angeles Television shows set in Tennessee Works about fandom Works about the music industry Works about stalking Cultural depictions of Beyoncé