Remember a few months back when a pod of orcas started attacking ships? It left the public baffled and scientists struggling to explain the behavior. Well, we finally might have an answer — a fictional answer, but an answer nonetheless.
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The new series The Swarm, adapted from the 2004 German novel of the same name, is about a struggling humankind forced to take on a swarm of unknown intelligence that lives beneath the ocean.
This “enemy” intelligence is causing whales to destroy boats, crabs to attack beaches, mussels to block container ships, and ice worms to trigger tsunamis. And the only thing that can stop it is a brave group of scientists.
Frank Doelger, the Emmy award winner and Game of Thrones executive producer behind the new show, told Variety that he approached the project like he would a “monster movie.”
“As is true of a lot of interesting monster movies, it seemed very clear to me that we wanted to have a monster movie in which we finally discover that the monster is actually us, that we are the architects of our own demise,” Doelger said.
According to Doelger, the book follows the scientific investigation into the happenings and delves deep into the science. Therefore, the project’s biggest challenge was taking those explanations and turning them into a “compelling, character-driven emotional drama.”
The Swarm, filmed with a production budget of a reported $42 million, was released earlier this year to European audiences and began airing on The CW Network on Sept. 12.
The premise is compelling but the response so far has been lukewarm, with a 5.8-star rating on IMDB and a 77% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes.
Watch The Swarm on Tuesdays at 9 p.m. Eastern on The CW Network and stream for free on Wednesdays.
