Wait, is 'Swarm' based on a true story? The Prime Video horror-thriller series tagline reads, "Murder. Sex. Music. This is not a work of fiction."
Spoiler alert: This article incorporates minor spoilers for Episode 6 of Swarm.
If you are looking to binge-watch one thing new, we advise you check out Swarm. Created through Donald Glover and Janine Nabers, the acclaimed Prime Video horror collection follows Dre (Dominique Fishback), a young woman prepared to kill to gas her disturbing obsession with the world's largest pop superstar, Ni'Jah.
Article continues underneath advertisement
For the ones unaware, the collection has been amassing buzz (pun intended) on-line due to Ni'Jah and her resemblance to Beyoncé, right down to her fandom title (The Swarm) and award-winning occupation. Plus, with a tagline that reads, "Murder. Sex. Music. This is not a work of fiction," many are curious to grasp — is Swarm based on a true story?
Keep reading to find out!
Article continues underneath commercial
So, is 'Swarm' based on a true story?
Despite the tagline's bold declare, Swarm is now not based on a true story.
However, the story takes inspiration from sure precise events, according to co-creator Janine Nabers. In an interview with the Los Angeles Times, she confirmed that Dre is purely fictional but famous that "many of the pop culture events and crimes depicted are real."
"[Donald and I] did research for months to basically find events [between 2016 and 2018] that we could put our main character in," she added. "So it's really not a work of fiction. We've taken real internet rumors, real murders and combined them in the narrative of our main character, Dre. Not much of it is fabricated."
Article continues underneath advertisement
When it got here to creating Ni'Jah's personality and her occupation, Janine checked out a number of eventful moments in Beyoncé's life (including the notorious elevator attack and the time anyone bit her face) and recreated them for the small display.
"Obviously all of these people are public figures and legally, you can't use the real footage," Janine said. "So we made the footage [ourselves] and they're a lot of fun. We were able to re-create every single moment within that time span."
Article continues below commercial
The author continued, "When we sat down to look at that period in history, it really was about the feeling those moments gave you. Everyone remembers where they were when the elevator moment happened. It's undeniable that there are moments with musicians that shift culture."
Janine further noted that the "murders are reenactments."
"Everything that you see throughout this show is something that has been researched and examined. And so I think we did a really good job at allowing our audience to live in these little American moments that actually have existed, but people just don't know about," she added.
Article continues beneath commercial
But wait, is Episode 6 of 'Swarm' actual?
The sixth episode, titled "Fallin' Through the Cracks," is no longer real; then again, it is probably the most intriguing of the sequence. Episode 6 deviates from the show's typical format, presenting a true-crime documentary centering on Loretta Greene (Heather Simms), a Memphis detective who starts to glue murders she believes were dedicated by means of a Black, feminine serial killer.
The characters of Andrea and Marissa, among others, are not performed by way of the actors we have previously observed in the display — different performers take on the position as the installment serves as a documentary re-enactment of the display's events.
Article continues underneath advertisement
Loretta makes respectable progress, but the episode concludes through noting that she's nonetheless pushing for Andrea's arrest.
Things then take a wild flip once Donald Glover appears as himself and discusses "this show I’m working on right now with Chloe and Damson and Dom Fishback" on a pink carpet. This scene — if you'll really name it that — suggests that the opposite episodes of Swarm are supposed to be fictional in a world where Loretta and the documentary are nonfiction.
Article continues underneath advertisement
So, is Andrea Greene actual? What about Dorothy Daye?
Despite the "this is not a work of fiction" disclaimers that pop up earlier than each and every episode, Andrea Greene is now not a actual individual — she's merely a fictional personality. The identical can also be said for Dorothy Daye, a murder sufferer that Det. Loretta Greene links to Dre's serial killings because she talked trash about Ni'Jah.
Janine Nabers dished in regards to the Beyoncé affect in 'Swarm.'
Following the show's SXSW premiere, Janine Nabers — plus Dominique Fishback and Chloë Bailey — took section in a Q&A and in brief discussed Beyoncé's affect on Swarm.
Article continues underneath advertisement
"In April 2016, when a certain visual album dropped […] there was a rumor that a girl named Marissa Jackson killed herself because she realized that a certain pop star was being cheated on by her husband," Janine mentioned, according to IndieWire. Though the tragedy used to be later debunked on Black Twitter, she concept it would be a great story to use for Swarm.
Janine later famous that a "pop star who shall not be named" has watched Swarm, but she didn't remark further. Instead, she reiterated her earlier claims: "Every episode deals with real news stories, real events, or internet rumors that have happened, and we have put our wonderful women in the center of those stories."
Swarm is now streaming on Prime Video.
ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7pbXSramam6Ses7p6wqikaKhfnsBuv9aaqaZlkpbAprCMqKVmmV2pv7axjKyrqKqp