Murderbot is coming to Apple TV+ with Alexander Skarsgard set to star.The 10-episode sci-fi drama is based on the award-winning novels, The Murderbot Diaries, by author Martha Wells.According to Deadline, the series was greenlit a year ago, with casting put on hold due to the then-ongoing Hollywood strikes. Now, Skarsgard has snagged the lead role as the eponymous Murderbot, and will executive produce alongside Andrew Miano, David S. Goyer, and Keith Levine.The Murderbot Diaries tell the story of a self-hacking security android who is horrified by (yet drawn to) human emotion. When it comes to the upcoming TV series, it sounds as though we can expect a similar concept.Alexander Skarsgård. Image credit: Alamy.“Murderbot must hide its free will and complete a dangerous assignment when all it really wants is to be left alone to watch futuristic soap operas and figure out its place in the universe,” reads the show’s first description.The show itself is created by Chris and Paul Weitz, who will write, direct and produce. Both Weitz brothers are renowned for writing About A Boy, but Chris also has a long history with science fiction. After all, he wrote the screenplay for the recent sci-fi epic The Creator, as well as working on Rogue One. Wells herself will serve as consulting producer on the show.IGN’s The Creator review gave it 7/10 and said: “Godzilla and Rogue One director Gareth Edwards returns with an original (albeit derivative) science fiction vision: the story of a future war between man and machine, as told through the bond that develops between, well, a man and a child-sized machine. As pure spectacle, The Creator is often jaw-dropping in its imagery, its relatively frugal special effects, and the detailed depth of its futuristic design. It’s shakier as drama and sci-fi – and in its sentimental depiction of synthetic humans just trying to live their synthetic lives, a bit out of step with the anxieties of our increasingly AI-dominated age.”The series marks the second collaboration for Apple TV+ with storyteller David S. Goyer, who serves as showrunner and executive producer on Foundation, which is getting a third season. Apple TV+ is also home to a growing offering of broadly acclaimed, hit sci-fi titles including Monarch: Legacy of Monsters, Silo, For All Mankind, and Invasion.Image credit: photo by AlamyRyan Leston is an entertainment journalist and film critic for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter.
