When you watch a Donald Glover show, you never know what to expect. Fans of his unpredictable artistry can look forward to another strangely compelling project in the new Prime Video series swarm.
The show, which premieres March 17, follows Dre, a young black woman who is going through a major transformation after a series of disappointments has prompted her to travel across the country to meet her idol, pop star Ni’Jah , hold true. However, the twist comes when Dre’s journey gets a little bloody as she starts killing those who stand in her way. The show is heartbreaking, scary and funny – basically everything you loved Atlantawhich makes sense because many of the team on this Emmy-winning series are working on it now swarm. They spoke to executive producer Janine Nabers and series star Dominique Fishback The origin about creating the show’s unique tone.
Coming from her acclaimed roles in the film Judas and the Black Messiah and limited series The Last Days of Ptolemy GrayFishback gets the chance to show the full range of her talent swarm. As Dre, she takes audiences on an intense yet absurd journey through super fandom. The character’s emotions don’t change from scene to scene, it’s more like moment to moment – and Fishback handles that brilliantly.
“Some of those things were already in the script, of course. It’s a testament to the actors that they pulled together. I got to work with some great people who allowed us to develop the audio and figure out what was funny and what wasn’t funny,” Fishback said The origin. “I wanted to do it because I thought it was really smart. It takes something that we know as a society and cranks it up to the umpteenth power and just makes it wild.”
Swarm – Official Trailer | Prime video
Nabers wanted to take this special kind of thriller and tell a very specific story. It examines the life of this black woman and how she deals with the many obstacles. Sometimes they’re devastating while other times they’re hilarious. But to Dre, they all seem to have the same unconventional solution.
“We were inspired by a lot of art-house, avant-garde characters that are a bit stranger than we would normally get. Not really holding hands with anyone who this woman is in a way that they’re comfortable with,” Nabers said. “That was very specific to the story because I feel like a lot of these ambiguous anti-hero stories … a lot of it was reserved for white men. We really wanted to give this very complicated journey to a black woman, who is this character? Do I trust this person? How well do I think I know this person?”
With so many members of the Atlanta team is working on swarm, it’s no surprise that the show evokes a very familiar feeling. It’s something that audiences can definitely pick up on swarm has the same unpredictable energy as the FX hit. When an episode ends, you’re never quite sure how to process what you’ve just watched.
“What’s really great about working on it Atlanta with Donald and with so many people who are also there swarm“It’s that we looked at the scariest thing, but you always find something funny,” said Nabers. “The sound is really something in itself. It’s this genre-bending, tonally shifting story, and we’re just really happy with how it’s turned out.”
swarm Premiered March 17 on Prime Video.