It’s hard to believe it was way back in December of 2023 when we first learned that Alexander Skarsgård (True Blood, The Northman) would star as Murderbot, the snarky rogue SecUnit in Apple TV+’s adaptation of Martha Wells’s Nebula and Hugo Award-winning The Murderbot Diaries series of far future sci-fi novels and novellas that began with 2017’s All Systems Red.
After sterile images of an emotionless Skarsgård in a sweet cyborg suit and circular mask were revealed this past February, Apple TV+ has now treated Murderbot faithful fans with the first full trailer for the live-action show, which launches on May 16 with a special two-episode premiere – and it looks like it has the making to be one of the best Apple TV+ shows.
This ten-episode Murderbot series hatched by Paramount Television Studios and quirky creators Chris and Paul Weitz (About a Boy) chronicles the semi-strange life of “a self-hacking security android who is horrified by human emotion yet drawn to its vulnerable clients. Murderbot must hide its free will and complete a dangerous assignment when all it really wants is to be left alone to watch futuristic soap operas and figure out its place in the universe.”
Watch On
Enjoy Apple TV+’s outrageously funny sneak peek at Murderbot (see trailer above) and the insipid humans that inhabit the sentient machine’s futuristic workplace world, filled with The Office-like gags, dry situational humor, corny sci-fi soap operas, a ginormous alien centipede, and all paired with Stealers Wheel’s bubble gum pop classic ‘Stuck in the Middle With You’, which you’ll recall from Quentin Tarantino’s crazy crime thriller, Reservoir Dogs.
Skarsgård’s genderless, free-thinking android will be joined by fellow Murderbot ensemble cast members Noma Dumezweni, David Dastmalchian, Sabrina Wu, Akshay Khanna, Tattiawna Jones, and Tamara Podemski.
“It just doesn’t get humans at all,” Skarsgård recently told Vanity Fair. “It’s not a deep hatred, it’s just zero amount of curiosity. It’s confused by humans and wants to get away from them.”
This highly anticipated project is written and directed by The Weitz brothers out of their Depth of Field creative shingle beside executive producer Andrew Miano. David S. Goyer (Blade, The Dark Knight Trilogy, Foundation) executive produces in partnership with Keith Levine for Phantom Four. Author Martha Wells is also on board the series as a consulting producer.
Murderbot powers up exclusively on Apple TV+, one of the best streaming services, with a dual-episode launch on May 16, 2025, followed by fresh chapters each Friday through July 11.
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