NOW ENTERTAINMENT May 11 Month 00- -17, 00,2025 2023
Your Weekly TV Entertainment Brought To You By Olean Times Herald & The Bradford Era
Based on the Hugo and Nebula award-winning series “The Murderbot Diaries” by author Martha Wells, the new sci-fi series “Murderbot,” starring Alexander Skarsgard (“True Blood”), premieres Friday, May 16, on Apple TV+. Alexander Skarsgard in “Murderbot”
Cover Story Dead-end job: ‘Murderbot’ reluctantly joins Apple TV+’s workforce By Joshua Amy At one point or another, pretty much everyone has wished they could be doing anything other than the job at hand, like tuning out a co-worker’s chatter to binge the latest series, for instance. Escapism is a hallmark of being stuck in a mundane workplace, an experience that should resonate with viewers of Apple TV+’s newest series, “Murderbot.” Based on the Hugo and Nebula award-winning series by author Martha Wells, “Murderbot” adapts the events of the first novella, “All Systems Red,” the series premieres Friday, May 16, on the streamer. With a title like “Murderbot,” you’d be inclined to think this is an action-packed sci-fi thriller about a robot specifically designed for violence — and you’d be right, at least in part. While the titular character may be a purpose-built killing machine, it’s not just a robot: it’s a part-android, part-cloned human security construct. The SecUnit, played by Alexander Skarsgard
(“True Blood”), is a walking insurance policy created by the megacorporations that control much of humanity’s spacefaring domain. SecUnits are required on any planetary expedition to protect the human team members and, more importantly, the company’s investment. Therefore, “Murderbot” is not just an action-packed sci-fi thriller, it’s also a twisted workplace comedy. “Murderbot’s” SecUnit is unique, as it’s managed to hack its governor module, giving itself free will. Upon breaking its shackles, it does as any indentured killing machine would, names itself Murderbot and downloads thousands of hours of soap operas from the company media feeds. Although Murderbot is confused and annoyed by the messy “human-ness” of those in its charge, it’s good at its job — and needs to keep up appearances for survival. Behind the faceplate, however, it just wants to be left alone with its stories, though it inevitably must do its job.
The humans that Murderbot is assigned to protect are a planetary survey team led by Dr. Mensah (Noma Dumezweni, “Black Earth Rising”). Hailing from a system outside of the Corporation Rim, Mensah and her team struggle with the cutthroat profit motives of their employer, reluctantly agreeing to the terms of their contract — including the need for a SecUnit. The survey team — played by David Dastmalchian (“Late Night with the Devil,” 2023), Sabrina Wu (“Joy Ride,” 2023), Tattiawna Jones (“Orphan Black: Echoes”), Akshay Khanna (“The Doll Factory”) and Tamara Podemski (“Coroner”) — would rather forgo all corporate meddling but opt to simply ignore the SecUnit instead. The indifference to its presence suits Murderbot just fine, since the humans’ interpersonal relationship drama is irrational, emotional and unpredictable. Hiding behind its mask, Murderbot
would much rather engage emotionally through the safety of its obsessive binge of “The Rise and Fall of Sanctuary Moon.” The pulpy, over-the-top sci-fi soap opera exists as a show-within-a-show that stars John Cho (“Star Trek,” 2009), Jack McBrayer (“30 Rock”), DeWanda Wise (“Three Women”) and Clark Gregg (“Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.”). “Sanctuary Moon” serves as both escapism between saving the team from hostile threats and a sort of road map for Murderbot as it navigates how to interact with the humans post-rescue. Despite Murderbot’s desire to be left alone, its evolving relationship with Mensah’s team is central to the story. In an interview with Vanity Fair, showrunner Chris Weitz describes this reluctant dynamic: “They’re not really cut out for this. Murderbot feels it has to keep them from dying. It’s not really because it necessarily cares about them at first. It has this thing of being good at its job in spite of everything.”