From Sigur Johanson to Charlie Wagner

On Wednesday the March 1, 2023will be in the ZDF media library Episode 4 to 6 of The Swarm published. In the bestselling film adaptation of the book by Frank Schätzing *, scientists around the world observe inexplicable marine phenomena from whale attacks to lobster infections and try to find out what’s behind them. We take a closer look at the characters to find out how strong 7 main characters changed from the novel became.

The crush: That’s how much the series changed the book characters

Frank Schätzing’s book The Swarm was published in 2004, almost 20 years ago. Since then, a lot has happened in society and the film industry if we look at gender politics and diversity. Accordingly, the series creatives around showrunner Frank Doelger not only re-examined the state of research, but above all took Character Customizations before.

Here you will find an overview of the 7 biggest character changes – for all those who can no longer remember exactly what they read or who have never read the novel.

1. The Swarm changes Dr. Sigur Johanson

dr Sigur Johanson is one of the main characters in Frank Schätzing’s sci-fi thriller. In the book, the Norwegian biology professor is a aging white man. The series breaks the image of the white scientist with the cast of the Swedish actor Alexander Karimwho is also slightly younger than his character template.

2. The crush cast (almost) reinvents Charlie Wagner

The of Leonie Benesch played, stubborn graduate student Charlie Wagner makes amazing discoveries in the north of Scotland. The young researcher does not appear in the book at all. For this, her series character borrows plot lines from others merged figures: namely by scientific journalist Karen Weaver and sonar expert Murray Shankar, both of whom are absent from the film adaptation.

3. The series Der Schwarm turns Gerhard Bohrmann into Prof. Katharina Lehmann

The Kiel professor Katharina Lehmann, embodied by Barbara Sukova, is respected, but not always insightful when it comes to new findings. In Frank Schätzing’s book Der Schwarm, the marine researcher was still a male worm expert named Gerhard Bohrman. The series, on the other hand, reflects gender diversity in science.

4. The series The Swarm changes Dr. Roche

The situation is very similar to that of Prof. Lehmann with the novel character of Bernard Roche, who, as a French molecular biology scientist, examines the poisonous algae that become a weapon of attack in The Swarm. The international ZDF production changed gender of the researcher: Now play Cecile de France dr Cecile Roche.

5. The series The Crush changes Samantha Crowe

After Sharon Duncan Brewster last explored alien planets in Dune, she becomes the astrophysicist Samantha Crowe in the series The Swarm. The character of the space explorer, who this time directs her gaze to make contact, was based in the novel on the white director from SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) Jill Cornell Tarter, was now allowed to bring more diversity into alien research as a black actress.

6. The series The Swarm gives a face to the Japanese helpers

While in the novel the country of Japan remains a rather abstract scientific partner, in the (Japanese co-produced) series real ones are represented People the nation: the philanthropist Aito Mifune (Takuya Kimura), who listens where others don’t want to believe in fairy tales, and his important collaborator Riku Sato (Takehiro Hira).

7. The series The Swarm changed Jack “Greywolf” O’Bannon

The minor character of war veteran Jack O’Bannon (Dutch Johnson). In Franz Schätzing’s book The Swarm, Jack O’Bannon is proud of his semi-Indigenous heritage. Not only was the name “Indians” used for the series, but the entire one Deleted identity discussion.

Podcast: The 20 Best Series Starts of February, Including The Swarm

Need more fresh streaming tips? You can find the most exciting series that you can stream on Netflix, Amazon, Disney+ and more in February here in the monthly preview:

We have checked the long starting lists of the streaming services and present you the 20 big highlights of the month in the Moviepilot podcast stream trawl. Also included are new seasons of You, Carnival Row and Star Trek: Picard, as well as the latest The Walking Dead spin-off and the highly anticipated adaptation of the German sci-fi novel The Swarm.

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