Alexander Skarsgård has taken some interesting roles through his career, including ones like True Blood, Big Little Lies, and Infinity Pool. But some may forget that he got his start in comedy, his breakout role in the movie Zoolander. Murderbot is a vehicle to remind fans of his comedic talents, even if it’s delivered mostly in a deadpan, intentionally robotic narrative style.
Murderbot premiered on Apple TV on May 16, 2025, but I had the chance to watch the sci-fi action comedy in its entirety to help you decide if it’s worth watching. The verdict? Murderbot is weird, ridiculous, completely out there. It has an addictive element to it that leaves you wanting more, even if the storyline tapers off through the later episodes.
What is Murderbot About?
Murderbot is a sci-fi action comedy based on the Martha Wells book series The Murderbot Diaries. It hails from Paul and Chris Weitz, the team behind American Pie and About a Boy. The series is about a private security cyborg that hacks into its government module, goes rogue, and decides to name itself Murderbot. Now with autonomy and the ability to make its own decisions, Murderbot doesn’t decide to kill its creators and wreak havoc on the world like some other “bad apple” SecUnits have been reprogrammed to do. Instead, it tries to keep this reality a secret and do its own thing. That isn’t easy, however. It’s also kind of boring. And humans are annoying.
When Murderbot is chosen to work with an eccentric team of scientists on their next mission, it’s not exactly pleased. All it wants to do is sit back and watch hours upon hours of corny serial TV that it has downloaded to, well, itself. Humans and their desires and weaknesses annoy it, which Murderbot discloses through its internal monologue, heard throughout each episode.
Getting caught up in dangerous assignments, dealing with conflicting personalities, and trying to hide the fact that it’s not simply a robot that follows instructions, makes for a fun ride through the show’s 10 episodes.
Murderbot Review
There’s something endearing about Murderbot, both the show itself and the title character. It doesn’t have a gender, doesn’t necessarily have emotions nor empathy. It is a cyborg after all. But it can analyze and pick up on human behavior and, much like real-life AI, it’s continuously learning.
Skarsgård isn’t always convincing in his Ken doll-like skin (yes, complete with no genitals), his narration like a poor man’s Dexter Morgan from Dexter. But where he falls short, the supporting cast picks up. A shining star is Noma Dumezweni as Mensah, the leader of the team who has a soft spot for SecUnit, Murderbot’s “real” name. Dumezweni is a theatre-trained actor and it shows, making her one of the most compelling characters that holds the entire show together.
Through every episode, you can’t help but feel for Murderbot. The team he works for is downright nonsensical at times. It’s simple, silly fun while you listen to its inner thoughts and sympathize with it having to deal with, well, complete morons. The concept of a cyborg designed to protect and murder that has recoded itself to chill and watch soapy dramas is only entertaining for so long, however. The cluelessness of those around it, and their desperation to get Murderbot to like them (or at least not murder them) is fun to watch…but only for a while.
The idea is that Murderbot starts to recognize their emotions and develop real bonds and friendships with its clients that it can’t quite understand, and them the same. The conflicting desires to remain true to its duty to protect (and murder) while also trying to enjoy the spoils of being autonomous (read: binge-watching shows), is at the heart of Murderbot’s journey. His favourite guilty pleasure is a show within the show called The Rise and Fall of Sanctuary Moon, which is ironically at times more interesting than the show itself. (And boasts a pretty killer guest cast list).
The setting of a future world with planets, spaceships, human/AI hybrids, and sand monsters with big appetites, is visually appealing but also a mystery, as is the work the group does, or at least is trying to do. That’s all secondary to Murderbot’s journey, anyway, the actual plot sometimes getting lost along the way.
Admittedly, while Murderbot starts strong, the show gets weaker as it progresses, dare I say even somewhat boring. By episode seven, you might be growing tired of the story that seems to be going nowhere and the one-dimensional characters who exhibit little to no personal growth. For this reason, I’d suggest that Murderbot is the type of show to wait and binge versus watching week-to-week. There isn’t enough meat on the bone to keep you satiated for an entire week until the next episode: you’ll want to continuously pick at every morsel to feel like you’re getting a fuller story. And you do get that by the end.
Should You Watch Murderbot?
Murderbot is like a parody of Star Trek combined with a better version of Avenue 5, a short-lived sci-fi comedy starring Hugh Laurie and Josh Gadd that couldn’t quite find its footing. Sadly, I feel like Murderbot could fall into the same trap that HBO show did. The premise was intriguing through its first season, and while Avenue 5 was cancelled due to expiring contracts and scheduling issues relating to the pandemic, it didn’t live up to its potential. I don’t know if there’s any story left to tell and if Murderbot will return for a second season. It will take some seriously creative writing to warrant one.
There is something deeper to Murderbot. The show existentially poses interesting questions about what it means to be human. Can robots and computers be whittled down to nothing more than a selection of “0s” and “1s?” Technically, yes. But isn’t human DNA sort of the same thing? Is it possible for robots to develop a “personality” and for humans to develop genuine affections for them, and vice versa? Murderbot explores this in a way that will leave you satisfied and pondering the question by the end.
The story with Murderbot, however, is less compelling than the way it makes you feel. It’s ridiculous, escapist entertainment that leaves you feeling compelled to hit play to watch the next episode after each one, just because. What will Murderbot do next? With a short 20-25-minute runtime for each episode, even less when factoring in the lengthy intro sequence, you can easily get through the entire season in one sitting. And I’d recommend waiting to do just that. By the end of the show, you might be more interested in learning how The Rise and Fall of Sanctuary Moon ends over Murderbot. But you’ll appreciate Skarsgård taking you along for the ride as he navigates being a cyborg with a purpose, but also no purpose at all.
Murderbot premiered its first two episodes on May 16 with new episodes weekly thereafter through July 11, 2025.