Hopefully continuing the glorious streak of sci-fi television from Apple TV+ comes Murderbot, a comedic thriller starring the great Alexander Skarsgård and helmed by the brotherly duo of Chris and Paul Weitz, whose storied careers involve the writing and directing of such hits as About a Boy and The Nutty Professor II.
Skarsgård: Become Human
Murderbot looks to fill the Severance-shaped holes in our hearts and our Fridays, with the first two episodes landing on 16 May 2025. The remaining eight episodes of what could potentially be spun into a multi-season series will continue to fill the Friday slot ’til 11 July 2025.
Based on Martha Wells’ The Murderbot Diaries, the series follows Murderbot, a recently sentient “self-hacking security construct” built to protect humans and carry out dangerous and obviously murderous jobs. Like the humans that assign them, the titular Murderbot isn’t bothered to stick to its programming and simply wants to stay home to watch sappy soap operas and, well, be left alone.
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Forced to hide his recent awakening from those around him, Muderbot ventures out on a mission to protect what looks like a research team on some far-flung planet, judging by the trailer. A mishmash of comedy, action, and drama, Murderbot might have the chops needed to keep Apple’s sci-fi watchers in it for the long run.
To that end, the ensemble cast also includes Noma Dumezweni, David Dastmalchian, Sabrina Wu, Akshay Khanna, Tattiawna Jones, and Tamara Podemski. Muderbot isn’t the only sci-fi series in the works. Both Severance and Silo were greenlit for another season, while William Gibson’s Neuromancer novel is currently in the writer’s room, and stars Mark Strong.
