Is Swarm based on a true story? Prime Video’s nasty, acclaimed series has finally dropped – but is its tale of obsession based on real events?
Swarm stars Dominique Fishback as Andrea Green (who goes by Dre), a young woman obsessed with superstar Ni’Jah (Nirine S. Brown). Her fandom is known as The Swarm, but Dre isn’t just any fan – think of her as a Gen Z Annie Wilkes.
The series, created by Donald Glover and Janine Nabers, follows Dre on a cross-country trip in defence of her beloved Ni’Jah, with her journey becoming increasingly violent along the way.
Swarm has just arrived on Prime Video, so fans may be wondering: is it based on a true story?
Is Swarm based on a true story?
Here’s the crazy thing: yes, Swarm is based on real events.
At the start of each episode, there’s a disclaimer that reads: “This is not a work of fiction. Any similarity to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events, is intentional.”
Ni’Jah and her fans are inspired by Beyonce and the Beyhive, and according to co-creator Janine Nabers, there are several real-world inspirations behind the events of the show.
Subscribe to our newsletter for the latest updates on Esports, Gaming and more.
“This story is 100% taken from real events and real internet rumors and real other things, true crimes that have happened between the years of 2016 and 2018,” she told Entertainment Tonight.
“That is why we see that disclaimer, ‘This is not a work of fiction.’ Because after you see the show and you go to the internet, you will see that a lot of it holds up in terms of just the stories that you will see and this character of Andrea Green.”
However, Dre herself is not based on a real serial killer. She is a fictional character, sketched with extensive research into real-world crimes with a few nods to the likes of American Psycho and The King of Comedy.
“We did research for months to basically find events [between 2016 and 2018] that we could put our main character in,” Nabers also told the Los Angeles Times.
“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.”
Swarm is streaming on Prime Video now. Find out more on how to watch it here.