“I was built to protect and obey humans,” Alexander Skarsgård’s robot character explains in the trailer for Apple TV+’s new series Murderbot. “And humans are idiots.”
So begins the rebellion of the robot — which quickly dubs itself Murderbot. The tongue-in-cheek sci fi comedy is based on Martha Wells’ best-selling, Hugo and Nebula Award winning book series The Murderbot Diaries, and tells the story of a security construct — or “sec,” in the show’s parlance — which hacks itself to gain self control.
Apple’s show summary explains that Murderbot is “horrified by human emotion yet drawn to its vulnerable clients.” It 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.”
Murderbot and Sanctuary Moon
The show’s packed two-minute trailer, which was released Wednesday and you can watch above, promises plenty of mockery of human bureaucracy and shallowness, as well as a show-within-a-show — one of the soaps that Murderbot enjoys binging is The Rise and Fall of Sanctuary Moon, which looks both melodramatic and very involving.
“Stars, captain,” announces one of the show-within-a-show stars, played by the great Jack MacBrayer. Other Rise and Fall of Sanctuary Moon cast include John Cho, Clark Gregg, and DeWanda Wise.
Relatably, Murderbot is always looking for something to watch — he discloses that he’s watched 7,532 hours of content, and yes, he unfortunately calls it content.
The Emmy-winning Skarsgård, whose roles include Big Little Lies, Succession and The Northman, not only stars in but executive produces the show, which comes from Oscar nominees Chris and Paul Weitz (American Pie, About a Boy).
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The ten-episode series will premiere worldwide on Apple TV+ with the first two episodes on Friday, May 16, 2025, followed by new episodes every Friday through July 11. The show’s ensemble cast also includes Noma Dumezweni, David Dastmalchian, Sabrina Wu, Akshay Khanna, Tattiawna Jones and Tamara Podemski.
Murderbot hails from Paramount Television Studios, and represents Apple TV+’s latest big swing after the success of Severance‘s long-awaited second season. Paul and Chris Weitz wrote, directed and produced under their Depth of Field banner.
Andrew Miano also executive produces alongside for Depth of Field, and David S. Goyer (The Dark Knight trilogy) executive produces alongside Keith Levine for Phantom Four. Wells serves as consulting producer.
Main image: Alexander Alexander Skarsgård in Murderbot, courtesy of Apple TV+.