In a universe where artificial intelligence is supposed to follow orders like life-or-death vending machines, Murderbot just wants everyone to shut up so he can binge his space soaps in peace. This refreshingly petty (and deeply relatable) take on AI consciousness smashes onto Apple TV+ starting on Friday, May 16, bringing Martha Wells‘ Hugo and Nebula Award-winning series The Murderbot Diaries to life as the most hilariously anti-heroic android story yet.
The series introduces us to “SecUnit” (played with delicious deadpan by Alexander Skarsgård) who has secretly hacked his governor module to gain autonomy, but continues his security duties to keep from being melted down for parts. At its core, Murderbot is a sci-fi thriller/comedy about the self-named cyborg, who just wants to be left alone to watch his favorite drama series. Life in the universe is never that simple. Set in a corporate-dominated future where everything—including planetary exploration—is ruled by profit-driven mega-corporations, our Bot is stuck navigating human interactions while hiding his free will. (And desperately trying to catch up on the latest episode of The Rise and Fall of Sanctuary Moon.)
Created by the Weitz brothers, Chris and Paul (About a Boy, Antz), Murderbot delivers the thrilling action, expansive world-building, and unpredictable crew dynamics we crave from great space series. But where Murderbot truly wins is its sardonic humor and sharp social commentary. Like The Expanse or Firefly or even Lost in Space, it juxtaposes the vastness of space with the intimacy of human (and non-human) relationships, creating a story that feels epic and personal simultaneously. This show has an incisive understanding of the contrast between greedy people and kind ones, and how both types take different shapes. In contrast to the contrasts, everything is danger; for Murderbot personally and for the team collectively. Whether that be from their warring emotions, the corporation, centipede-like creatures that are more Predator than pest, or from other teams.
“I need to check the perimeter.”
This plays out not just in the main story but also in Murderbot’s favorite drama, The Rise and Fall of Sanctuary Moon, a fictional space opera featuring an impressive cast of John Cho (Star Trek), DeWanda Wise (Jurassic World: Dominion), Clark Gregg (Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.), and Jack McBrayer (30 Rock). The show-in-show serves as a mirror to Murderbot’s journey. As he watches the exaggerated melodrama unfold, we start to understand his perspective on the strange, messy humans he’s not-so-reluctantly protecting.
Skarsgård is frolicking like he’s on a playground custom-built for him and he’s never had more fun. Murderbot is written with such complexity and humor that it’s impossible not to root for this grumpy, media-obsessed bot. If he lived in our world, Murderbot/SecUnit would likely be on the spectrum: he avoids eye contact (it unnerves him), needs to “check the perimeter” when he’s overwhelmed, escapes into entertainment, and is utterly perplexed by most people’s behavior. It’s in these moments of genuine relatability that the show hooks us—not in Murderbot becoming human, but by learning to connect on his own terms.
Murderbot’s main buddy is Noma Dumezweni as Dr. Mensah, a deeply compassionate leader without ever veering into the territory of a noble idiot. She makes hard decisions with clear-eyed pragmatism, even as she becomes Murderbot’s closest ally. Interestingly, the relationship between Cho and Wise’s characters on Sanctuary Moon contextualizes the relationship between Murderbot and Mensah—although they’re very different. The third wheel is David Dastmalchian’s Gurathin, an augmented human who distrusts our Bot from the start but also has a compelling backstory and a tumult of emotions, making him another fascinating parallel to Murderbot’s struggle with identity.
The rest of the team features players like Sabrina Wu (Joy Ride) and Akshay Khanna (Polite Society), who inject charm and ridiculous antics into the chemistry, while Tattiawna Jones (Station Eleven) and Tamara Podemski (Outer Range) are more grounded with resourceful and resilient characters. Murderbot shines through this cast as a thrilling mix of high-stakes action, emotional depth, and buzzy sarcastic humor.
If you can’t tell, I liked it. I liked it a lot. Murderbot is a gleefully sardonic sci-fi series about a disgruntled cyborg who only wants to survive so he can watch his favorite drama (I can relate). This genre-blending cocktail of found family drama, deep space satire, and action-comedy-thriller, also serves up an indictment of corporate greed, a grumpy versus sunshine friendship, and a non-human coming-of-age story. [insert a deep breath here] This is the sociology experiment-styled escapism we need right now. With a show this wily, weird, and astute, I’ll drink to that.
Murderbot , the new sci-fi series starring and executive produced by Alexander Skarsgård, premieres globally on Friday, May 16
For fans of: The Expanse, Firefly, Lost in Space, Westworld, Battlestar Galactica, Futurama, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (Chris Weitz co-wrote this one too), Doctor Who, Black Mirror, Star Trek: Lower Decks, WALL-E
