How Apple's Murderbot series can impress you if you haven't read a single Martha Wells book
A cyborg who hacked his brain to watch TV shows instead of listening to orders. And still has to save people. Not because he wants to, but because there is no one else to do it.
Apple TV+ is launching a new series Murderbot, an adaptation of the cult book series by Martha Wells, which has received all kinds of science fiction awards and the love of readers who hate social contact. The premiere is 16 May 2025, starring Alexander Skarsgård. And if you think this is another series about a hero who wants to save everyone, forget it. This one just wants to be left alone.
Fast forward.
- How Murderbot became a phenomenon
- A cyborg who wants to be left alone
- Space corporatism: a universe without mercy
- The themes behind the sarcasm
- Murderbot on the screen: what to expect from Apple TV+
- Why Murderbot is all of us, but with a laser
How Murderbot became a phenomenon
Before Apple took on the film adaptation, Murderbot had already managed to build its reputation in the literary world. The first story of The Murderbot Diaries series - All Systems: All Systems Red, was released by Martha Wells in 2017. And before she knew it, the book had won the Hugo (Readers' Choice Award), Nebula (Professional Science Fiction Writers Award) and Locus (Science Fiction Magazine Award) and several other prestigious awards, and the main character was loved by everyone from science fiction fans to people who just like sarcastic androids with trauma.
The cover of the All Systems Red reissue of the story. Illustration: видавництво Tor
The format of the story was the key to success: short, fast-paced, with a minimum of water and a maximum of Murderbot's inner voice. The series quickly grew to nine parts - including full-length novels - and at every stage maintained the same atmosphere: action, humour, and painfully accurate observations of social interaction.
Murderbot's popularity is not accidental. This is not another hero who seeks to understand humanity or save the galaxy. He simply wants control over his own life (and when he presses play on his favourite TV series).
His story is not so much about science fiction as it is about the freedom to be yourself, even if you are half human, half robot, completely tired of everything around you.
A cyborg who wants peace
Murderbot is an android with human organs, a bad mood, and an addiction to TV shows. Technically, he's a SecUnit: a semi-organic security android that corporations buy to go along with people on missions in space. But most importantly, he broke his internal limiter. This is the chip that makes him obey orders and not ask stupid questions. And do you know what the first thing he did when he became free? He downloaded TV shows. Tons of TV shows. And then he quietly hid so that no one would force him to do anything social.
A still from the Murderbot series. Illustration: Apple TV+
The main magic of the character is in his inner monologue. Murderbot speaks to us - honestly, sharply, with sarcasm and exhausted irritation. He hates small talk, avoids eye contact, and doesn't understand why people show emotion. But when one of them gets into trouble, he still rushes in to save them. Without enthusiasm, but with the efficiency of an intergalactic Rambo.
Instead of becoming more human, Murderbot is developing in a different direction - it is learning to be itself.
To admit fear, to build minimal connections, to remain a separate personality in a system where everyone wants to make you something manageable, convenient and without the right to say no. He wants to be quoted. You want to empathise with him. And most importantly, it is very easy to recognise yourself in him, especially if you have ever dreamed of switching on "airplane mode" for the whole world.
Space corporatism: a universe without mercy
The world of Killerbot is not a space dream, but a dystopia with a corporate face. Central to this universe is the concept of the Rim Corporation. This region, or perhaps sphere of influence, is characterised by a hyper-capitalist spirit where profit reigns supreme, often at the expense of ethics and safety. It's a brutal environment, rife with corporate espionage, sabotage, assassination, indentured servitude (the original status of the assassinbot), and the ruthless exploitation of planetary resources and colonists who have no idea they're being used. And those like the murderbot are just property with instructions.
Poster for the Murderbot series. Illustration: Apple TV+
Instead of interplanetary democracy, we have security auctions: the one who sells security for a scientific expedition at the lowest price wins. No guarantees. No morals. Only commerce. It was in this system that Murderbot was born: a cog that broke because it wanted to live by its own rules.
And one more detail: the alien remnants. No, these are not E.T. or xenomorphs. These are ancient, potentially lethal technologies that corporations dismantle for scrap and sell with an ISO certificate. Murderbot has repeatedly encountered such "scientific initiatives" where greed meets fatalistic "well, what could go wrong".
Artificial intelligences are a separate thrill. There are not only SecUnits, but also ships that joke better than humans, stations with semi-consciousness, and even a friendly AI called ART (short for Asshole Research Transport). In this reality, machines are more alive than many procurement staff.
This world not only supports the general scenery of the book series, but also carries the main idea:
Freedom is not about "being good", but about having the right to say "fuck off" and go watch your own show.
Themes behind the sarcasm
Despite all the shootouts, intrigue and man-made disaster in every second chapter, The Assassin's Diaries is a very personal story. About freedom. About trauma. And about the right not to be comfortable.
Murderbot is a character with social anxiety who tries to function in a world where everyone demands "normal" behaviour. He doesn't like to be touched, doesn't understand human emotions, and hates it when someone tries to "cure" him of himself. His reaction to any emotional intimacy is to run away, turn on the TV show and pretend he's not there. Very relatable, don't you think?
This is a story about boundaries. About how being vulnerable is not a weakness. That you can be a living being, even if you are created artificially. And that care doesn't always look like a hug - sometimes it's holding back a laser pointed at one of your own.
Murderbot also talks about the "other": the uncomfortable, the different, the non-classical. And it does so without an obsessive mentoring tone - it just lives as it is. That's why the character is often interpreted as non-binary, neurodivergent (the name given to people whose brains work a little differently, even though they are not human), or simply someone who is tired of labels.
It is also a story about finding your place in an absurd world. Even if you're a cyborg who just wants to go watch your favourite TV series.
Murderbot on the screen: what to expect from Apple TV+
The Murderbot series on Apple TV+ starts on 16 May 2025. The main role is played by Alexander Skarsgård, the same guy who has already been a vampire, a Viking, and a Swede with a philosophical outlook. Now he is an android who just wants peace. And he is also an executive producer.
The first season adapts his debut novel All Systems: Danger". It will consist of 10 episodes, two of which will be shown on the day of the premiere, and then every week. The Weitz brothers are responsible for the script and production - the same ones who made the film About a Boy and know how to combine humour with sensitivity.
The biggest question is how they will convey Murderbot's inner monologue.
Because in the books, he is the heart of the whole story. Sarcastic thoughts, cringe from social contacts, reflections that hit more accurately than a plasma gun. There are options: voiceover (risky), interfaces with thought visualisation, or just brilliant acting. Perhaps all of the above.
Fortunately, the author Martha Wells is involved in the project as a consultant. This means that we won't get a "based on" adaptation where the cyborg suddenly starts smiling and learning to love life. Murderbot will remain Murderbot - unless, of course, Apple decides to give it a dancing episode. But that would be another story.
Why Murderbot is all of us, but with a laser
Murderbot is not just another character in armour with a tragic past. It's a mirror for everyone who has ever wanted to switch off the world and just watch something stupid, without people, without talking, without explanations. It's a story about the right to push yourself to the limit, about being tired of expectations, and about the freedom to be yourself - even if you're a half-robot with problems.
The Apple TV+ series has every chance of becoming not just an adaptation, but another way for a new audience to find a hero who says what we usually think but don't say. And if everything goes well, this sarcastic cyborg will become a new favourite of everyone who is tired of fake empathy in TV shows and heroes without downsides. Because sometimes the best saviour is the one who didn't want to save anyone at all.
For those who want to know more