Chloë Bailey Makes It Clear That ‘Swarm’ Is More Than Just a Show About Stans and Fandom Culture

Fans are about to see Chloë Bailey in a brand-new light when Swarm arrives this Friday on Prime Video. 

She starred on the Freeform show Grown-ish alongside her sister, Halle, for four seasons, in which they played sisters and college athletes. While that show deals with some grown-up topics, Episode 1 of Swarm, “Stung,” sees Bailey’s character Marissa in more mature and adult scenarios alongside her boyfriend Khalid, who is played by Damson Idris. 

But don’t ask Bailey about any sex scenes. She doesn’t want to talk about that. Instead, she focuses on what being a part of Donald Glover and Janine Nabers’ latest creation has meant to her. “I was so excited to do this show because it highlights sisterhood and mental health. And Marissa is Chlöe. I had music to save me. So it was like I got to be myself,” Bailey tells Complex. “I am so happy to be a part of an incredible cast and I can’t wait for people to watch the rest and see who else is a part of it, who I know they’ll freak out and love.”

She’s right. Not only does the show star Dominique Fishback as Dre, as well as Idris and Bailey, but it also features some big names as guest stars, like one of the biggest pop stars in the world delivering a convincing and haunting performance, as well as some other beloved actors whom we won’t dare spoil. That’s now to be expected from a Glover show. In his FX show Atlanta, you never knew who’d make an appearance before you hit play. But there was also a special name in the Swarm writing credits. Aside from the familiar names who wrote on Atlanta, Nabers and Glover invited Malia Obama into the writer’s room, someone Bailey grew up knowing. 

“Being around her on set was so cool. When we were little girls, we’d see each other in passing when sis and I would perform at the White House and do stuff for Mrs. Obama,” Bailey says. “To now see how us, both Cancers—I think we’re three days apart and the same age—how we have evolved and have come into ourselves and our paths met on this journey together.”