The first season of the comedic sci-fi thriller series Murderbot is due out soon on Apple TV+, and the hype is building. Today, the streamer dropped the first trailer for the show, created by Academy Award nominees Chris and Paul Weitz and starring Alexander Skarsgård as a self-hacking security construct who is disgusted by human emotions yet inexplicably drawn to them. Murderbot would much rather be watching soap operas than dealing with humans, which of course means it will have to deal with plenty of actual human drama over the course of the season's 10-episode run.
The Murderbot Diaries books by Martha Wells are known for their quirky humor and wit, and the show looks like it captures that spirit perfectly. Check it out:
Murderbot has watched 7,532 hours of content, it is truly one of us
You know a show is going to be fun when the trailer makes you laugh multiple times, and this one certainly did that for me. Skarsgård's deadpan delivery as the titular SEC unit is a lot of fun, but it's far from the only character we'll be meeting in Murderbot. This trailer sets up the basic premise for the show and introduces the crew who Murderbot will find itself unfortunately tethered to.
The conceit is thus: Murderbot is a security construct who has bypassed its own safety protocols, gaining sentience and free will. It can go on enjoying this free will for as long as the humans don't catch on and reprogram it. But as we see in this trailer, the secret won't stay hidden long. Murderbot is picked for security detail on a mission led by a bunch of scientists, and they soon figure out there's more to the SEC unit than meets the eye.
Beyond Skarsgård, the Murderbot cast includes Noma Dumezweni as crew leader Dr. Mensah, David Dastmalchian as Gurathin, Sabrina Wu as Pin-Lee, Akshay Khanna as Ratthi, Tattiawna Jones as Arada, and Tamara Podemski as Bharadwaj. The cast also includes a secondary cast of characters who will feature in the in-universe soap opera The Rise and Fall of Sanctuary Moon, with notable actors like John Cho, Jack McBrayer, Clark Gregg, and DeWanda Wise. The fact that the show went all in on producing Sanctuary Moon is a clear sign to fans of Wells' books that this adaptation is in good hands.
With shows like Silo, Severance, and For All Mankind getting farther into their runs, Apple TV+ is going to need some new sci-fi flagship series to fill the void. They could not be betting on a better series than Murderbot, which has taken sci-fi readers by storm over the past decade. I can't wait to see how wider viewing audiences respond.
Murderbot premieres its first two episodes on Apple TV+ on May 16. After that, one episode will air a week on Fridays until its season finale on July 11.
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