‘Swarm’ Trailer: If You Mess with the Beehive, You Might Get Stung

For those expecting an absurdist comedy in the vein of Glover’s Emmy-winning series Atlanta, you might be in for a bit of surprise. In an exclusive first look for Vanity Fair, Glover described Swarm, which he created with Atlanta writer Janine Nabers, as “a post-truth Piano Teacher mixed with The King of Comedy.” The series stars Judas and the Black Messiah breakout Dominique Fishback as Dre, a young woman obsessed with a fictional pop star, Ni’jah, whose aesthetic mirrors Beyoncé’s. Her fan base, the Swarm, even shares an insect mascot with the Renaissance singer—as well an an intense devotion to their Queen Bee. 

From the looks of the trailer, Dre’s fandom of Ni’jah takes her to some dangerous places. “She’s not like everybody else,” says Dre. “She knows what we’re thinking and gives it a name. She’s a goddess.” With ominous underscoring, Dre’s obsession with Ni’jah becomes clearer. The trailer includes shots of Dre getting a new credit card to spend $1800 on Ni’jah concert tickets and tweets from Dre’s Ni’jah-devoted Twitter account. As tragedy befalls Dre, her obsession with Ni’jah grows deeper and darker as we see Dre punch herself in the stomach and clutch a wasp in her bloody hands.

“You’re a killer bee, part of the swarm,” a woman tells  Dre. “Talk about Ni’jah, you get stung.” Things only seem to get more out of control from there as we see shots of Dre dancing at a strip club and getting pulled over by the cops while driving a blood-soaked vehicle. 

Swarm stars Fishback, Damson Idris, and singer Chloe Bailey, who plays Dre’s sister, Marissa. Malia Obama is one of the credited writers on the series, and Nabers has sung her praises. “She’s a very professional person,” Nabers told V.F. “She’s an incredible writer and artist.”

Towards the end of the pilot, Dre and her bloody car are stopped on the side of the road at night. “Damn, you got a dead body in there or something?” says a woman, curious about what’s in Dre’s trunk. We’ll have to wait and see what’s in Dre’s car, and what’s driving her obsession with Ni’jah, when Swarm premieres on Amazon Prime on March 17th.