Here's the first trailer for Murderbot
The series begins streaming on May 16th on Apple TV+
The first trailer for Apple TV+'s upcoming series Murderbot, has dropped, and man, this looks like it's going to be a ton of fun to watch.
The series is based on the books by Martha Wells (All Systems Red, Artificial Condition, Rogue Protocol, Exit Strategy, Network Effect, Fugitive Telemetry, and System Collapse), which follows a security android that begins calling itself Murderbot after it hacks its governor and becomes self-aware. In your typical science fiction blockbuster, it would probably exact revenge and kill everyone in sight, yes? Murderbot would rather watch TV and keep a low profile, avoiding people at every opportunity.
The books have been enormously popular, revitalizing Wells' career and now, we've got a TV adaptation. Apple first announced the series back in 2023, and it's been in production ever since, starring Alexander Skarsgård as the central, titular character.
In the trailer, we get that thumbnail background of Murderbot's origins, and its attitudes towards people: "Humans are idiots," and learn that it's being brought onboard an expedition as the second-best option (because it's a "refurbished" model and thus cheaper.)
Here's the trailer:
The best part about this? We're also getting glimpses of the show that Murderbot is obsessed with: The Rise and Fall of Sanctuary Moon, a melodramatic and over-the-top space soap opera that looks absolutely perfect: full of bright neon colors and dramatic acting. (What's also funny? The brand new SecUnit looks just like the one on the book covers.)
The trailer comes a day after Vanity Fair's Anthony Breznican published a big curtain-raiser feature about the making of the series, which delves into some behind-the-scenes details about the characters and what to expect. Empire also interviewed Skarsgård about his take on the character.
When I posted some news about this on Bluesky, I saw a lot of folks worrying about how the show would capture Murderbot's internal dialogue and snark, and from this trailer? I'd say they nailed it: Skarsgård's voice really feels like it's capturing the tone of what I imagined in the books. It also looks like it'll be balancing the humor and action nicely. Of course, we'll have to see how it shakes out when the series begins streaming (May 16th), but I'm optimistic.
Andrew Liptak
The nice thing about adaptations like this is that they'll serve as a great platform to introduce folks to the books: they really deserve to be read. And, it joins a pretty excellent lineup of shows and films on Apple's streaming service. Severance has been getting rave reviews after it just ended its second season recently, and others, like For All Mankind, Monarch, Silo, Foundation, are all pretty good. It's not the only big adaptation in the mix either: the platform has William Gibson's Neuromancer coming up as well.