Late last year, Donald Glover’s Atlanta wrapped up after four seasons. But the actor-musician multi-hyphenate isn’t slowing down — and might be even revving up to weirder and darker places. His new project, Swarm, feels closer to the horror-tinged crescendo of the Childish Gambino “This Is America” video or the Teddy Perkins episode of Atlanta than anything else on his IMDb Page.
Swarm stars Dominique Fishback (Judas and the Black Messiah) as Dre, a young woman whose obsessive fandom for a major pop star explodes into a violent episode. Joining her on the ride is her best bud (played by Chloe Bailey), who certainly will not approve of her behavior! We get a taste of the horror in the first trailer for the series, which finds Dre muttering the phrase “Who’s your favorite artist?” as bloody mayhem streaks across screen.
The tone feels familiar in a genre reshaped by the films of Jordan Peele, and the plot’s also familiar to anyone who has seen Play Misty for Me, Misery or Ingrid Goes West. But knowing Glover, who created the series and directs the pilot, Swarm could go in any direction. There are endless weird possibilities here, and the trailer teases a few of them.
Glover co-created Swarm with playwright and Watchmen writer Janine Nabers, who serves as showrunner on the series. All the episodes premiere on March 17 on Amazon Prime Video.
