US EditionThe Making of Apple TV+’s Murderbot
- Apple TV+ premiered the first two episodes of Murderbot, a sci-fi thriller, on May 21, 2025, with weekly releases through July 11.
- The show adapts Martha Wells’s novella All Systems Red, whose short length and straightforward structure helped preserve its core story in the series.
- Producers combined some characters and reduced the human group size to develop stronger relationships, while allowing certain creative freedoms in character and armor design.
- The series has nine episodes available, is based on award-winning source material, and features Alexander Skarsgard as the self-hacking security construct Murderbot, who hides its free will to complete dangerous tasks.
- Murderbot received a 98% Rotten Tomatoes score, indicating strong critical approval, and explores themes of identity and neurodivergence while appealing to diverse audiences.
20 Articles
20 Articles
'Murderbot' envisions a caustically funny future : Pop Culture Happy Hour
Murderbot is a very smart, very funny new sci-fi comedy series on Apple TV+. It stars Alexander Skarsgård as a cyborg who works security for a team of hapless, bumbling scientists exploring a dangerous planet. He's hacked his own system and gained free will – a fact he tries to hide from them, even as he sardonically judges their naïve and foolhardy actions, and craves nothing more than to be left alone to watch his soap operas.To access bonus e…
The making of Apple TV+’s Murderbot
In the mood for a jauntily charming sci-fi comedy dripping with wry wit and an intriguing mystery? Check out Apple TV+'s Murderbot, based on Martha Wells' bestselling series of novels The Murderbot Diaries. It stars Alexander Skarsgård as the titular Murderbot, a rogue cyborg security (SEC) unit that gains autonomy and must learn to interact with humans while hiding its new capabilities. (Some minor spoilers below, but no major reveals.) There a…
Injecting a good dose of comedy into a futuristic universe, the Weitz brothers series is served by a remarkable android Alexander Skarsgard who discovers empathy.
Why Apple's Best New Sci-Fi Series Created Its Own Version of 'Star Trek'
Apple TV+The new Apple TV+ sci-fi series Murderbot is many things. It’s a great adaptation of the wonderful books by Martha Wells. It’s a workplace comedy in space. It’s a new kind of sci-fi show that balances humor and drama like no show before it. And it’s also a show that has a secret Star Trek-esque TV series inside of it. That’s right, while the primary story of SecUnit (Alexander Skarsgård) is the focus of Murderbot, the Murderbot itself i…
Alexander Skarsgard teases faithful adaptation of Murderbot – with author having key input
TV and film adaptations of books don’t always follow the source material, but Murderbot’s lead has hinted that the series version will follow its novella rather faithfully. While Martha Wells's Murderbot Diaries series is currently comprised of seven books, season 1 of the show only follows All Systems Red – the first book.Even when the first trailer for Murderbot first dropped, we knew that the Apple TV+ adaptation would at least carry over the…
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