Created by Janine Nabers and Donald Glover, the Prime Video series premieres on March 17.
The Killer Bees of Swarm have been unleashed. Amazon Studios released the first full-length trailer for its new upcoming series starring Dominique Fishback and puts a bloody spin on stan culture.
From co-creators and executive producers Janine Nabers and Donald Glover, Swarm tells the story of Dre (Fishback), a young woman obsessed with the fictional pop star Ni'Jah, whose body of work and art style are very similar to Beyoncé's. Set between 2016 and 2018, the series follows Dre as her fandom takes her to dark, unexpected places, which seemingly begins after the death of her sister Marissa (Chlöe Bailey).
"She is not like everybody else. She knows what we're thinking and she gives it a name," Fishback's Dre says of Ni'Jah in the trailer as she's shown admiring the musician onscreen and getting a credit card to purchase $1,800 concert tickets. "She's a goddess."
A seemingly grief-stricken Dre then embarks on a cross-country journey as her obsession fuels a murderous streak that turns her joy ride into chaos. "You're a Killer Bee. Part of the Swarm. Talk about Ni'Jah, you get stung," a woman tells Dre with a dismissive levity that's horribly foreboding.
Watch the trailer below.
Swarm will also feature guest stars Damson Idris as Marissa's boyfriend, Khalid, Rickey Thompson, Paris Jackson, Rory Culkin, Kiersey Clemons and Byron Bowers.
In a preview of the series with Vanity Fair, Glover shared that he first pitched the idea to Nabers, an Atlanta writer and producer who serves as Swarm's showrunner.
"We were really interested in creating an antihero story," Nabers told the outlet. She explained that she and Glover took inspiration from iconic TV antiheroes who were compelling in their messiness, such as Mad Men's Don Draper and The Sopranos' Tony Soprano, and created a new version of that archetype, "through the lens of a Black, modern-day woman."
"We just thought it'd be fun to make a post-truth Piano Teacher mixed with The King of Comedy," Glover added, referencing Michael Haneke's 2001 drama and the 1982 Martin Scorsese classic.
The show's crew is comprised mostly of former Atlanta staff, with Nabers saying Swarm lives in "the same tonal space" as the Emmy-winning FX series. Atlanta veered to the surreal more often than horror, but Swarm seems to play with the genre in a way similar to the series' infamous Teddy Perkins episode and Jordan Peele's slate of award-winning films.
"A lot of people did it out of the kindness of their hearts and they did a really great job," Glover told Vanity Fair. "Dom, Damson, Chloe. I was really blown away at how hard they worked on the tone, 'cause it's a strange one."
All the episodes of Swarm premiere March 17 on Prime Video.
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