We’ve seen numerous films and television shows about fans obsessed with their favorite stars who take their dedication too far in movies like Misery and Ingrid Goes West before. But Swarm is next level darkly-comedic, satirical obsession – with a dash of serial killing mixed in for good measure. It tells the dark tale between super fan Andrea “Dre” (Dominique Fishback) and mega pop star Ni’Jah (Nirine S. Brown) and her dedicated fan base collectively known as the Swarm. Ni’ Jah is very loosely drawn from on Beyoncé and her dedicated Beyhive fanbase.

The limited series co-created by Janine Nabers and Donald Glover (Atlanta) as their response to internet music culture and online relationships, Swarm unfolds as a true-crime adjacent story. Glover and Nabers infuse DNA from the rap music underbelly of Atlanta into Swarm.

Nabers and Glover contend that Ni’Jah is not Beyoncé, despite the subtle references to the star. Ni’Jah spawned from a viral internet rumor of an unhinged fan called Marissa Jackson (also the name of Dre’s sister) who died by suicide after being convinced that her popstar idol was being cheated on by her husband.

Janine Nabers spoke with Creative Screenwriting Magazine about the process of creating a hit television series. We started our chat by asking Janine whether she’s more of a Dre or a Ni’Jah. “Definitely more of a Dre,” she jokes. (At least we hope she was joking). Jokes aside, Nabers asserts that examining an obsessed pop fan was never her first priority in Swarm.

“We really wanted to write the character of a serial killer who happened to be black and who happened to be obsessed with this pop star Ni’Jah,” Nabers mentions far too casually.

The writer draws parallels between Swarm and Atlanta (which she also wrote on). “You look at Atlanta which is obviously about a rapper and his cousin manager and the entourage around him. But it’s not really about rap music.” Janine Nabers indicates that Dre is a character who would have worked outside of Ni’ Jah’s Swarm. “I think this was a way to find an opportunity to write about a character that I had been really wanting to write about for a while, which was a woman who was breaking bad after the circumstances in her life threw her to that point. Swarm allows us to tell this interesting story through a timeline of true events and internet rumors around pop culture. We see Dre’s character evolve from where she is in the pilot, which is the origin story of a villain, to the end of the series, where she has her full circle moment.”

Swarm fully embraces its non-genre conformity. It’s been described as having elements of true-crime, dark comedy, and gritty cautionary drama. Nabers contends that it most closely leans into horror.

Who Is Dre?

“The story does its genre-bending and there is this  horror element to it. You see at a lot of common horror tropes such as an isolated girl who’s not seen as her best friend or her sister in a while, someone who is still a virgin, someone who’s still trying to figure out who they are in the world… she’s a little invisible,” elaborates Nabers. “I was really interested in living in that space from a black woman’s perspective.”

Dre’s a bit of an alien. She’s a fly on the wall in her own life.

Dre has any unhealthy perspective on life. “Her relationship to sex feels like she doesn’t really know what that is. Her relationship to food is weird. Her relationship to her step sister Marissa (Chloe Bailey) is co-dependent. Her relationship to Ni’Jah’s music is co-dependent.” This dysfunction is amplified over the seven episode season of Swarm.

Andrea “Dre” Greene (Dominique Fishback) Photo by Warrick Page/ Prime Video

Janine Nabers hails from Houston which is home to an incredible array of black female pop stars. “It was really important that Ni’Jah be a dark-skinned woman. We don’t see a lot of of dark-skinned women that have that kind of following that are considered the iconic pop stars of their generation.”

Nabers and Glover are acutely cognizant of the strong parallels between Ni’Jah and Beyoncé. “We knew people are going to project Beyoncé or whoever they want onto this pop star, but we wanted to make her our own. We wanted to really set her apart because you just don’t see anyone that looks like Ni’Jah,” says Nabers.

Tonal Inflections

Swarm traverses a wide tonal latitude. “We were constantly watching YouTube videos. We were constantly watching some of the most horrific stuff in the writers’ room. What’s interesting in a comedy room is that you always find something funny. There’s always something funny about death, but obviously we’re still  telling a serious story,” Nabers clarifies.

“We’re telling a really serious story about this woman who loses the only person that understands her and goes on a killing rampage to get close to the other woman she thinks truly understands her.”

“Obviously there are going to be moments that are devastating and heartbreaking and aren’t funny. But the world doesn’t have to be just a comedy, it doesn’t have to be just sad, and it doesn’t have to be just weird. It could be all of these little elements that blend into each other,” adds the writer.

Janine Nabers

Swarm was set in a tight time period. “We started the series in 2016 we knew we were going to end it towards the end of 2018. We knew Dre went on this two-year crime spree.” This set up the framework for the series.

The writing team did extensive research on the types of murders Dre might commit. “Most of the murders that happened are based on actual murders that we researched. Looking at Dre’s first girlfriend at the end, that was based on a real story of a white woman. We just changed her to black one. For Dre’s other murders, the writers might change the ethnicity, gender or identity of one of the people to fit the story that we were telling,” says Nabers.

The Writing Process

“One of the things that you learn as a showrunner is that the story doesn’t end with the script,” declares Nabers. “The actors and directors brought so much to the environment,” she adds. It also helps when many of the directors on Swarm are also writers. “That was really wonderful because they really understood the tone and the baseline, the moments, and the tone of the story that we’re trying to tell, in an organic way.” This synchronicity ensures that each episode flows naturally into the next and doesn’t feel like you’re watching a different show.

“That, to me, was really special. It was really wonderful kind of learning that you create a show and put it on its feet, which I’ve never done before as a showrunner. That teaches you a lot. It teaches you everything.”

Janine Nabers believes that the pilot episode “Stung” encapsulates the essence and trajectory of the TV show. Dre plans a surprise party for her step sister Marissa. It ends with Dre bludgeoning Khalid (Damson Idris), Marissa’s boyfriend to death after unsuccessfully warning her that he’s a philanderer after she sleeps with him. (Note the similarities to the internet rumours.) “Dre has a visceral reaction to murder. Murder gives her power. Murder gives her the value that she wants. The end of the pilot is like the start of this woman’s identity. It’s her birth in a way.“