The Swarm‘s already been released internationally, but now U.S. audiences will have the opportunity to watch the dramatic thriller beginning September 12, 2023 on The CW. The network picked up the event series to help fill a gap in a primetime lineup that once was packed with comic book-inspired action-dramas.
Episode one was directed by Luke Watson and written by Steven Lally, Marissa Lestrade, Chris Lunt, and Michael A. Walker. New episodes of the eight-episode ecological thriller will air on Tuesdays at 9pm ET/PT.
Based on Frank Schätzing’s bestselling novel, The Swarm stars Alexander Karim as Dr. Sigur Johanson, Cécile de France as Dr. Cécile Roche, Leonie Benesch as Charlie Wagner, Joshua Odjick as Leon Anawak, Takehiro Hira as Riku Sato, and Krista Kosonen as Tina Lund. Rosabell Laurenti Sellers plays Alicia Delaware, Barbara Sukowa is Professor Katharina Lehmann, Oliver Masucci is Jasper Alban, Klaas Heufer-Umlauf is Luther Roscowitz, Eidin Jalali is Rahim Amir, and Sharon Duncan-Brewster is Samantha Crowe.
The ensemble also includes Takuya Kimura as Aito Mifune, Jack Greenlees as Douglas, Dutch Johnson as O’Bannon, Franziska Weisz as Granelli, Lydia Wilson as Sara Thompson, Andrea Guo as Jess, Claudia Jurt as Dr. Natalia Oliviera, Elizabeth Kinnear as Lizzie Stringer, and David Vormweg as Tomas.
Frank Doelger (Game of Thrones) created the series and executive produces along with Eric Welbers, Oscar nominee Marc Huffam (The Martian, Saving Private Ryan), and Ute Leonhardt (Killing Eve).
The Plot, Courtesy of The CW:
Around the world, strange happenings, borne out of the oceans: Whales destroy boats, deep sea crabs attack beaches, mussels block container ships. An unknown ice worm destabilizes continental slopes and triggers tsunamis. A deadly pathogen spreads into the drinking water. Across the globe, lives are increasingly imperiled, the situation worsening by the day — and yet, nobody can draw a connection between the seemingly random attacks. Except for a group of scientists who come together through their shared sense that something bigger is at play: an intelligent life force, dwelling in the deep — capable of manipulating the ocean, and everything that resides in it.
A being which has borne witness to our destruction of the seas and has decided to drive us to extinction. But hardly anyone believes their findings. And so, the group is forced to undertake a life-threatening mission, tracking the intelligent life force within the Arctic Ocean. It is a mission they know may claim their lives.
