The Hugo and Nebula Award-winning Murderbot novels by Martha Wells are getting adapted into a series on Apple TV+. The sci-fi show will star Emmy winner Alexander Skarsgård, perhaps best known for his role on Succession.
Wells’ action-packed bestsellers center on a robot that breaks the programming that forces it to kill. The move allows the android to go freelance as a security specialist.
Think of Murderbot as a sci-fi Western
The Murderbot Diaries is a collection of seven novels about an android — part robot, part human — built to provide security in very dangerous situations. It’s designed to kill, but this is no Terminator.
As Apple puts it, its upcoming series is “about a self-hacking security android who is horrified by human emotion yet drawn to its vulnerable ‘clients.’ 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.”
The book series is reminiscent of classic Western films starring Clint Eastwood. The main character is haunted by a violent past but now uses skills developed through violence to help innocent people.
Among many others, the novels earned the 2021 Hugo Award for Best Series. They could have won even more awards, but Wells started refusing nominations.
New sci-fi series coming to Apple TV+
The upcoming Apple TV+ series is from Oscar-nominated directors Chris and Paul Weitz (About a Boy, Mozart in the Jungle). They will write, direct and produce the show.
Alexander Skarsgård, who’ll play the lead, won Emmys for outstanding supporting actor for Succession and Big Little Lies. Plus he earned a Critics Choice award, and has been nominated for multiple SAG Awards, Golden Globes and more.
With the Murderbot series early in the development process, there’s no word on when it will premiere on Apple TV+.
