Why you might be underestimating ‘Swarm’s’ Dominique Fishback at the Emmys

Luca Giliberti
·5 min read
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We know Ni’Jah has a stan in Andrea “Dre” Greene on “Swarm,” but will Dominique Fishback have a lot of them in the TV academy? The 32-year-old is currently in eighth place in our limited series/TV movie actress Emmy odds, but below I argue why enough voters might have, um, swarmed around Fishback for her to snag a nomination on July 12.

To be fair, it’s not surprising that Fishback isn’t in our top six at the moment. She’s a first-time hopeful competing for a show that isn’t expected to land a series nomination in a category that typically favors contenders from program nominees. Is it beyond the realm of possibility for “Swarm” to wind up with a Best Limited Series bid? No. The seven-episode series, which dropped on Amazon Prime Video on March 17, was met with mostly positive critical and audience reception and came out early enough for voters to have seen it by the time voting started on June 15. But the satirical comedy horror series about a woman who embarks on a violent odyssey of self-actualization to silence her fave pop singer’s critics could lack broad appeal and appears to have faded a bit since its release. Plus, there’s a good chance it got lost in Amazon’s large pool of limited series contenders for this Emmy cycle, which includes “Daisy Jones & the Six,” “The English” and “Dead Ringers,” all of which have female leads.

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But for starters, Fishback is no stranger to the industry. A BAFTA Award nominee for her supporting turn in the Best Picture Oscar-nominated film “Judas and the Black Messiah” (2021) and a Critics Choice Award nominee for her work opposite Samuel L. Jackson on the Apple TV+ miniseries “The Last Days of Ptolemy Grey,” she has been on the rise for years now and is arguably overdue for her big awards breakthrough.

SEE Dominique Fishback (‘Swarm’) on convincing Donald Glover to cast her as Dre instead of Marissa: ‘I was too excited by Dre’s journey’ [Exclusive Video Interview]

Most importantly, though, she has what is essential with the restricted ballot back in play now: individual passion for her performance on “Swarm.” Not only was she one of just two actors from a limited series to crack the nine-person lineup for Individual Achievement in Drama at the Television Critics Association Awards — the other being Betty Gilpin for “Mrs. Davis” — but her work has also been showered with praise by a number of industry members, including fellow actor Melanie Lynskey (not once, but twice) and Emmy-winning writer and producer Damon Lindelof. So her chances likely just hinge on whether enough voters actually watched the show before marking off their ballots, but given the shoutouts from Lynskey and Lindelof plus mentions of “Swarm” from other people in the biz, such as Elizabeth Olsen, it’s probably safe to assume that visibility wasn’t an issue.

What also helps Fishback is that the limited series/TV movie actress race is seemingly wide open. Of the top six actors in our odds, only Ali Wong of “Beef” (No. 2) and Riley Keough of “Daisy Jones and the Six” (No. 5) are forecasted to come from series nominees, and you could argue that of those two, Keough is vulnerable since “Daisy” — which is in the precarious fifth spot in our limited series odds — could still go either way.

Rounding out the top six are Jessica Chastain of “George & Tammy” (No. 1), Olsen of “Love & Death” (No. 3), Emily Blunt of “The English” (No. 4) and Rachel Weisz of “Dead Ringers” (No. 6), but each of these actors has their own hurdles to overcome. After racking up a Golden Globe Award nom and prevailing at the Screen Actors Guild Awards, Chastain is likely the closest to a lock in the category outside of Wong on paper, but “George & Tammy” seems like a distant memory at this point, and Showtime doesn’t have the greatest track record of fielding lead nominees in limited — Ethan Hawke (“The Good Lord Bird”), Russell Crowe (“The Loudest Voice”) and Jeff Daniels (“The Comey Rule”) have all missed in recent years. Like Fishback, Olsen earned strong individual notices, but “Love & Death” received mixed reviews and, with a late April launch date, may have come out a bit too late to make a strong showing. And Blunt and Weisz, despite also netting acclaim for their performances and the former nabbing a SAG Award bid, could each be hurt by the lack of buzz surrounding their respective shows.

So given that “Swarm” appears to have been watched by members of the industry and Fishback’s performance has been consistently singled out, don’t be surprised if the TV academy turns out to be Fishback’s biggest stan.

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