Much of The Swarm, a TV thriller in eight episodes, will be shot in Italy; the series is produced by Europe Alliance (established by RAI, Germany’s ZDF and France Television to compete in the international markets and boost audiovisual works at local level) with ORF, SRF, Nordic Entertainment Group and Hulu-Japan, in coproduction with Bravado and with executive production by Viola Film.
The series is based on the best-selling novel of the same title by Frank Schaetzing published in 2004 and translated into 27 languages. It will be directed by Luke Watson, Barbara Eder and Philipp Stoelzl. The cast includes actors from Europe (Cécile de France, Sharon Duncan-Brewster, Jack Greenlees, Lydia Wilson, Krista Kosonen, Alexander Karim, Leonie Benesch, Barbara Sukowa), Japan (Takuya Kimura and Takehiro Hiera), United States of America (Rosabell Laurenti, Dutch Johnson) and Canada (Joshua Odjick).
The Swarm is an environmental thriller: unnatural behaviour and anomalies in sea animals are causing trouble across the world with millions of strange worms suddenly appearing on the floor of the North Sea, perforating iced methane, and threatening to destabilize the entire continental platform. A group of scientists and soldiers from all over the world join forces against the threat.
Many Italian locations have been selected: the Veneto Region, Trani and the lighthouse of Punta Palacia in Otranto, Apulia, and studios in Rome. Italy will stand in for a wide variety of sets, including Canada, Peru and Norway. Visual effects will recreate land and water animals, natural catastrophes and the titular swarm during shooting.