The first teaser for Donald Glover’s new project has debuted online – and it’s swarming with horror and thriller-themed imagery.
Swarm, which launches exclusively on Prime Video on Friday, March 17, is the first of multiple Glover-created productions that’ll debut exclusively on Amazon’s streaming platform. And we don’t know about you, but Swarm‘s fascinating and foreboding teaser has us buzzing with anticipation ahead of its arrival.
Check out Swarm’s official teaser below:
Swarm stars Dominique Fishback (Judas and the Black Messiah) as Dre, a young woman who becomes increasingly obsessed with a fictional pop star. Fishback is joined by Chloe Bailey (Grown-ish) as Dre’s sister Marisa and Damson Idris (Snowfall) as Dre’s charismatic, as-yet-named boyfriend.
According to Vanity Fair, Swarm’s make-believe singer-songwriter has been inspired by none other than Beyoncé, who Glover starred alongside in Disney’s live-action The Lion King remake. The duo voiced adult Simba and Nala in the 2019 CGI movie. Nabers has described the series as an “anti-hero story”, albeit trained through the lens of a young Black woman, even though Dre has been influenced by white fictional males including The Sopranos‘ Tony Soprano and Mad Men‘s Don Draper.
Unsurprisingly, Swarm will explore themes surrounding fandoms and the dark desires born out of celebrity addiction. Glover’s new show, though, won’t be a completely horror-infused affair. Swarm is expected to carry the multi-talented creator’s signature dark comedy stylings, as well as his keen-eyed observations on celebrityism, parasocial relationships, and the wider entertainment industry. In fact, Nabers says Swarm is akin to a sister series to Atlanta, Glover’s genre-bending FX TV show. With this much buzz, expect it to join our best Prime Video shows list soon.
🐝🐝🐝🐝 https://t.co/jD7lcZPHr8February 10, 2023
Glover, who co-created Swarm with Janine Nabers (Atlanta), has co-written the series’ opening episode, as well as directing that installment. Currently, it’s unclear who joined Glover in the director’s chair. Meanwhile, Nabers and Glover have been joined in the writers’ room by the latter’s brother Stephen Glover (Atlanta), Ibra Ake (director on Beyonce’s Black is King album), and Barack and Michelle Obama’s daughter Malia (her first screenwriting role).
Glover is set to be an *ahem* busy bee in the next few years. He penned an overall deal with Amazon Studios to create content for one of the world’s best streaming services in February 2022. Another of his forthcoming shows – a adaptation of Mr and Mrs Smith – is still in development for Prime Video despite Phoebe Waller-Bridge, his former co-lead and creator of fan-favorite shows including Fleabag, departing the project in September 2021. Maya Erskine (PEN15) replaced Waller-Bridge in April 2022.
For more Prime Video coverage, check out our best Prime Video movies hub. Additionally, catch up on everything worth knowing about Invincible season 2 and The Rings of Power season 2.