Murderbot (TV series)

Murderbot is an American science fiction action comedy television series created by Paul Weitz and Chris Weitz for Apple TV+. It is based on All Systems Red, the first book of the series The Murderbot Diaries by Martha Wells, who serves as a consulting producer. The series stars Alexander Skarsgård as the titular character. The first season premiered on May 16, 2025. In July 2025, the series was renewed for a second season.

Premise

A media-obsessed private security construct, calling itself Murderbot, must hide its newly acquired autonomy, while completing dangerous assignments and being simultaneously drawn to humans and appalled at their weakness.

Cast and characters

Main

Alexander Skarsgård as Murderbot
Noma Dumezweni as Ayda Mensah, a terraforming specialist, the President of Preservation Alliance and the leader of the science team protected by Murderbot
David Dastmalchian as Gurathin, a tech expert and augmented human
Sabrina Wu as Pin-Lee, a scientist and legal counsel to the team
Akshay Khanna as Ratthi, a wormhole expert
Tamara Podemski as Bharadwaj, a geochemist
Tattiawna Jones as Arada, a biologist
Recurring

;Cast of show-within-a-show The Rise and Fall of Sanctuary Moon

John Cho as Eknie Jef Chem
Jack McBrayer as Breiller MocJac
Clark Gregg as Arletty
DeWanda Wise as Pordron Bretney III Roche
Guest
Anna Konkle as Leebeebee, a member of another survey team on the planet. The character does not appear in the novella.
Amanda Brugel as GrayCris Blue Leader
David Reale as GrayCris Yellow
Episodes

Production

The book series was optioned in the late 2010s, and its film adaptation was considered. In 2021, book series author Martha Wells said that a potential TV series adaptation was in development and that she had read the script and was "really excited about it". The series was green lit by Apple TV+ in 2022, with Wells serving as a consulting producer. The production design team, led by Sue Chan, started work in the autumn. Tommy Arnold, the Murderbot Diaries special edition illustrator, created the concept art for the show.
After the casting was delayed by the 2023 SAG-AFTRA strike, in December 2023 it was announced that Alexander Skarsgård would produce and star in the series. He developed the character and the world of Murderbot with the showrunners. In February 2024, David Dastmalchian and Noma Dumezweni joined the cast. In March, Sabrina Wu, Tattiawna Jones, Akshay Khanna, and Tamara Podemski joined the cast.
On July 10, 2025, the series was renewed for a second season. Showrunners Chris and Paul Weitz suggested the second season would combine the next three books of the series.

Filming

took place in March–June 2024, in Toronto and parts of Ontario, Canada. Most of the filming was done in locations, with the Sanctuary Moon content filmed on the virtual production stage.

Release

The first two episodes of Murderbot premiered on Apple TV+ on May 16, 2025, with subsequent episodes released weekly. The first season consists of ten episodes.

Reception

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, Murderbot has an approval rating of 96% with an average score of 7.5/10, based on 76 critics' reviews. The website's critical consensus states, "Alexander Skarsgård's superbly dry wit brings a lot of heart to Murderbot, making for a refreshingly jaunty sci-fi saga about finally coming out of one's shell." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned a score of 70 out of 100, based on 28 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.
Some reviewers have criticized Murderbot's changes to Wells' original books. Angela Watercutter of Wired noted that the series has significant tonal differences from the books and noted the show's changes to characters, particularly SecUnit and Dr. Mensah, and Wells' social commentary.

Accolades

Murderbot was a finalist for the 2025 Dragon Award for Best Science Fiction or Fantasy TV Series.
Tommy Arnold won the 2025 Concept Art Association Award in the category of Live-Action Series Character Art for his work on Murderbot.
Alexander Skarsgård was nominated for a Critics' Choice Award for Best Actor in a Comedy Series.
Carrie Grace and Laura Jean Shannon were nominated for a Costume Designers Guild Award in the category of Excellence in Sci-Fi/Fantasy Television for their work on FreeCommerce.
Amanda Jones was nominated for a Composers & Lyricists Award for Outstanding Original Title Sequence for a Television Production.