Murderbot is a futuristic comedy action thriller, starring Alexander Skarsgård as an android with free will. The Big Little Lies and Succession actor plays Murderbot, a sentient security robot who is horrified and fascinated by humans in equal measure and must hide the fact that he is self-aware by completing the dangerous assignments he's assigned. The series is based on the award-winning books by Martha Wells and also stars The Watcher’s Noma Dumezweni.
Here’s everything you need to know about the Apple TV Plus series Murderbot…
Murderbot release date
Murderbot is a 10-episode comedy sci-fi series on Apple TV Plus with the first two episodes launching worldwide on Friday, May 16, 2025, followed by a new episode weekly so finishing on Friday, July 11 2025.
How to watch Murderbot: stream the sci-fi comedy series online
Murderbot trailer
Take a look below for the Murderbot trailer. This looks fun!
Murderbot plot
The comedy series is set in the distant future when humans have colonised the solar system and interstellar travel is common. It’s a time where cyborgs are used for all kinds of tasks, including security, construction and moving cargo. But when a security cyborg – or SecUnit – manages to secretly override a piece of programming that ensures it obeys orders, a whole new world opens up to the bot… Giving itself the name Murderbot, the cyborg is acutely aware of what will happen if its newfound freedom is revealed, so decides to hide its free will as it tries to navigate the human world.
However, when it’s sent off on a mission with a group of ‘hippy scientists’, it’s horrified and intrigued to find itself being drawn into the emotional labyrinth of the human condition.
The survey team’s leader, Dr Mensah (Noma Dumezweni), is the first to reach out to Murderbot after the team is attacked by a fearsome monster. She notices how the SecUnit shows empathy when colleague Professor Bharadwaj (Tamara Podemski) is badly injured and the incident starts a conversation among the team about whether their robot companion is malfunctioning or not.
So Murderbot is a security robot who is horrified by human emotion yet drawn to its vulnerable clients. In reality, Murderbot just wants to spend its days watching futuristic soap operas but given that it must hide its free will, it has to head off on terrifying missions. However, Murderbot really just wants to figure out the meaning of life and work out its own place in the universe.
Murderbot review: Alexander Skarsgård is so good at being bad
Murderbot cast — Alexander Skarsgård on playing Murderbot
Alexander Skarsgård, who plays a robot with free will called Murderbot, says: "Murderbot just doesn’t get humans at all – humans are idiots. It’s not a deep hatred, it’s just zero amount of curiosity. It’s confused and kind of appalled by humans and wants to get away from them.
"It’s been treated horribly by all its clients up until this moment. But then it ends up on this weird planet with this weird group of humans that are outside the corporate system. They don’t believe in indentured servitude, they want to talk to Murderbot and invite Murderbot in, instead of storing it in the tool shed, like other clients have done. And that freaks Murderbot out.
"Murderbot is a story of social anxiety hidden, like a Trojan horse, inside an action-packed sci-fi show. We’ve all been in situations where there's a high level of social anxiety and you want to extract yourself, but you don’t know how. Ironically, I found Murderbot more relatable than most characters I’ve ever played. It’s a show about social awkwardness, or just trying to figure out how to fit into a group.
Despite its menacing moniker, the rogue cyborg is actually very good at its job, but would rather spend its free time slacking off and watching a sci-fi soap opera, Sanctuary Moon. "The story is about how Murderbot tries to not engage with the humans, or as little as possible,’ says Skarsgård. "But they’re working so hard to connect with Murderbot and are starting to chip away at its armour, in a way where it’s slowly starting to care about them – which it finds disgusting!"
* Swedish actor, Alexander Skarsgård joined season three of Succession as Lukas Matsson. He also starred as abusive husband Perry in the series Big Little Lies and Eric Northman in True Blood. He played Tarzan in The Legend of Tarzan and has also been in He Stand (see below), Succession, Mr. and Mrs. Smith, Lee, What We Do in the Shadows and Zoolander.
Who else is starring?
Murderbot also stars Noma Dumezweni (Presumed Innocent), David Dastmalchian (Oppenheimer), Sabrina Wu (Joy Ride), Akshay Khanna (Critical Incident), Tattiawna Jones (The Handmaid’s Tale) and Tamara Podemski (Outer Range). See below for the characters they play...
Meet the main characters in Murderbot
Murderbot
(Alexander Skarsgård)
The cyborg finds a way to override its programming before being hired by the Preservation Alliance’s survey team.
Dr. Mensah
(Noma Dumezweni)
The leader of the survey team is initially reluctant to hire Murderbot as she’s against all kinds of enslavement.
Dr. Gurathin
(David Dastmalchian)
An augmented human who has implants that allow him to interface with computers and data systems.
Pin-Lee
(Sabrina Wu)
The survey team’s lawyer has concerns about Murderbot and wonders whether they are able to turn it off or not.
Ratthi
(Akshay Khanna)
The scientist is an expert on wormhole travel and has a romantic attraction to Pin-Lee.
Arada
(Tattiawna Jones)
The team’s biologist is married to Pin-Lee, but has a crush on Ratthi and is grateful to Murdebot for saving her life.
Professor Bharadwaj
(Tamara Podemski)
The team’s geo-chemist is attacked by a fearsome monster in the opening episode and barely survives.
Behind the scenes and more on Murderbot
Alexander Skarsgård also serves as executive producer on Murderbot which comes from Paramount Television Studios. The Weitz brothers wrote, directed and produced under their Depth of Field banner. Andrew Miano also executive produces alongside for Depth of Field. David S. Goyer executive produces alongside Keith Levine for Phantom Four. Wells serves as consulting producer.
For more on Murderbot and other TV shows out this week, listen to our Bingewatch podcast.
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