What critics are saying about Swarm

Is the new Amazon Prime show a smart critique of toxic fandoms or an unfair swat at the Beyhive?

Dominique Fishback as Dre in 'Swarm.'
(Image credit: Screenshot/Amazon.)

In March, Amazon Prime debuted Swarm, "a thriller that serves as a spikey admonishment of celebrity worship," Aisha Harris writes for NPR. Co-created by Atlanta creator Donald Glover and Janine Nabers, a writer and co-executive producer of Glover's previous project, the seven-episode miniseries explores "stan" culture and the toxic fandoms that push their love for their favorite celebrities to the extreme.

The show follows Dre (Dominique Fishback), the self-proclaimed biggest fan of Houston-born pop star Ni'Jah, "an obvious, translucently veiled analog" for Beyoncé and her loyal legion of fans known as the Beyhive, Harris adds. "Yet for all the highly specific Beyhive Easter eggs," Swarm is "only about Beyoncé in an abstract sense," Harris says. Rather, its creators' true purpose is to take "the idea of the devoted fan" and stretch it "to its limits" by "calling upon the tendencies of obsessive fans and sadistic serial killers both fictional and real."

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Theara Coleman, The Week US

Theara Coleman has worked as a staff writer at The Week since September 2022. She frequently writes about technology, education, literature and general news. She was previously a contributing writer and assistant editor at Honeysuckle Magazine, where she covered racial politics and cannabis industry news.