Swarm on Amazon’s Prime Video platform has everybody talking since its debut on March 17, 2023, and audiences are wondering if the disclaimers before each episode are accurate leading them to the questions, is Swarm based on a true story, and is the character Marissa Jackson based on a real person?
Here is everything we know about the influences behind the Swarm show.
Is the Swarm show a true story?
Swarm is based on a number of different stories and reports that have appeared on the internet. While the validity of these stories has not been confirmed, those who have been working on the Prime Video show claim that the story being shown on screen is rooted in reality.
Co-creator Janine Nabers explained to Den of Geek: “We start with the saying ‘this is not a work of fiction,’ which is true. When you’re looking at the seven episodes that span a two and a half year period, we are basically showing things that have existed on the internet as stories or news stories and then we put our main character in the middle of all that.”
Is Marissa Jackson from Swarm a real person and obsessed Beyoncé fan?
No, Marissa Jackson from Swarm is not a real person. The character is played by Chloe Bailey in the Prime Video show, and is inspired by an internet hoax that claimed a Beyoncé fan had killed themselves after watching the Lemonade visual album, as it supposedly confirmed that Jay-Z had cheated on the singer.
The story was first published on a known satire website called Empire Herald, which quoted a “friend” of Jackson who described her obsession over Beyoncé and Jay-Z’s marriage. Assuming that Jay-Z had been unfaithful following the release of Lemonade, Jackson was said to have taken her own life.
Speaking with Shondaland, Swarm co-creator Janine Nabers explained how the rumor came to life: “I’m from Houston, Texas, and my very best friend’s last name is Jackson. There was a lot of texting between Houstonians being like, ‘Yo, who is this Marissa Jackson? Is this a true story?’ And that existed on the internet for a while.”
