‘Murderbot’ series review: Alexander Skarsgård shines in science fiction comedy-OxBig News Network

Science fiction can be action-filled, thought provoking and fun as Murderbot proves conclusively. Alexander Skarsgård is hilarious as the titular character, whether he is watching endless reruns of his favourite space opera, The Rise and Fall of Sanctuary Moon, trying to avoid eye contact with his human clients or ruefully admitting to having been “infected by an empathy virus by my clients.”

Based on Martha Wells’ award-winning science fiction series, The Murderbot Diaries, tell of a cyborg, a “SecUnit” who disables its governor module but hides among human clients so as not to be found out and terminated.

Murderbot follows the events of 2017’s All Systems Red, the first instalment of the series. In the far future where most people are indentured labour for corporate entities, a research team led by Ayda Mensah (Noma Dumezweni), reluctantly hire Murderbot, (it seems too much like slavery) as required by their insurance. Mensah is the President of Preservation Alliance, which is outside the blood-sucking influence of the hyper-capitalistic Corporation Rim.  

A still from ‘Murderbot’
| Photo Credit:
Apple TV

Mensah and her team, which includes Gurathin (David Dastmalchian) an augmented human and tech expert, scientist and legal expert, Pin-Lee (Sabrina Wu), wormhole expert, Ratthi (Akshay Khanna), geochemist,  Bharadwaj, (Tamara Podemski) and biologist, Arada (Tattiawna Jones) wish to treat Murderbot as a member of their team and not as a piece of equipment.

Murderbot would much rather be left to consume media than sit around with the humans and make eye-contact. Each member of the team has a different reaction to Murderbot. Gurathin is suspicious right from the beginning and tries to engage Murderbot in conversation to get it to trip up.

When Gurathin asks Murderbot about its feelings, Murderbot honestly replies with “I don’t know what it is like to not be me.” Ratthi is a huge fan, while Mensah wants to be fair but she is also protective of Murderbot, whom she perceives as not having any rights or agency.

Murderbot has some corrupted memories of an earlier job gone wrong with many casualties. It does not know if it was responsible for the deaths or whether it was ordered to kill.

When Bharadwaj and Arada are attacked by massive centipede-like creatures, who seem distant cousins of Dune’s sandworms, on the expedition, they realise the maps given to them by the Corporation Rim is incomplete.

A still from ‘Murderbot’
| Photo Credit:
Apple TV

The more Mensah and team uncover, the more complicated things become. There is another team exploring the other side of the planet Mensah and team are on, who come to a sticky end, except for Leebeebee (Anna Konkle), who asks rude questions about Murderbot’s genitalia (it has none as it is not a sex bot).

The shadowy corporate entity, GrayCris seems to have its fingers in many pies including the hunt for alien remnants which this particular planet seems to have a lot of.

The sets are well thought out — not grand so much as practical and lived in, just like the costumes. For epic, sci-fi scope, there is Sanctuary Moon with the doomed love story between John Cho’s Captain Hossein and the Nav Bot (DeWanda Wise).

Paul Weitz and Chris Weitz who have given us comic gems like American Pie and About a Boy, have delivered perfect, short (24 minutes!) bite-sized entertainment that makes us think. With Murderbot being renewed for another season, hopefully the all-knowing sarcastic ART will make an appearance.

Murderbot is currently streaming on Apple TV

Published – July 18, 2025 12:59 pm IST