Donald Glover Gives First Look At Forthcoming Show ‘Swarm’

In a Vanity Fair exclusive, Donald Glover and Janine Nabers shared first look images and the synopsis for new Amazon Prime show Swarm.

Donald Glover and Janine Nabers are opening up the weird world of Swarm. In a Vanity Fair exclusive published on Monday (January 31), the duo provided first look images to their forthcoming Amazon Prime Video show Swarm, starring Dominique Fishback, Chloe Bailey and Damson Idris. According to VF, the show tells the story of Dre (Fishback), “a young woman who is obsessed with a fictional pop star (whose oeuvre and aesthetic are very similar to Beyoncé’s). The show is a dive into Dre’s life, her fandom, and how it takes her to dark, unexpected places.”

“We just thought it’d be fun to make a post-truth Piano Teacher mixed with The King of Comedy,” Glover said, referencing Michael Haneke’s 2001 drama and Martin Scorsese’s 1982 film.

Nabers, formerly a co-writer and producer on Atlanta, was tapped by Glover to co-create the Amazon Prime series, as she’s from Houston, Texas, the birthplace of Beyoncé.

“We were really interested in creating an antihero story,” said Nabers, also a showrunner for Swarm. The duo also looked to fictional characters, like Mad Men’s Don Draper and The Sopranos’ Tony Soprano to develop an updated version of the archetype “through the lens of a Black, modern-day woman.”

Bailey portray’s Dre’s sister, Marissa, while Idris plays the role of Dre’s boyfriend. In the writers room was Malia Obama, eldest daughter of 44th United States President Barack Obama and a Harvard College Graduate.

“Dre and Marissa are in their 20s and Malia is in her 20s, so it was really great having someone like her in the room,” Nabers said. “She’s a very professional person. She’s an incredible writer and artist. 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.”

The show’s crew reportedly consists of writers and producers who assisted with Atlanta, so Swarm feels like a “a sister” to the former FX show.

“A lot of people did it out of the kindness of their hearts and they did a really great job,” Glover wrote to VF. “Dom, Damson, Chloe. I was really blown away at how hard they worked on the tone, ’cause it’s a strange one.”