Murderbot Review: Apple TV+'s Sci-Fi Series Is Heartfelt And Hilarious

Martha Wells' "The Murderbot Diaries" are among the most celebrated and beloved science fiction books in recent memory, and they got there not through reinventing the sci-fi wheel, but through reinterpreting familiar themes in a new voice. The first book in the series, 2017's "All Systems Red," plays with elements like space exploration dominated by corporate interests, the strange parasocial relationships we sometimes develop with commercial products, and the humanity lurking within an artificial being crafted only to obey.

What made the book special was Wells' interpretation of those elements, and of course, the narrative voice of her title character. Murderbot's view of humanity through its lens of corporate rigors, TV space operas, and overenthusiastic hippies won countless readers over and made a somewhat familiar story feel new and invigorating, which means that any adaptation would have to work hard to find that voice in a new medium.

While every Wells fan will have their own view of what that means when it comes to the new Apple TV+ "Murderbot" series, it's clear from the very beginning that this is an adaptation in love with Wells' ideas, and it's adept at finding ways to bring them to crackling, compulsively watchable life.

For the uninitiated, here's the basic rundown of what "Murderbot" is: The titular bot is a Security Unit ("SecUnit" for short), a semi-organic robot programmed to protect the humans to which it's assigned at all costs. But this SecUnit, played by Alexander Skarsgård, is different. It's managed to hack its governor module and free itself from the mandate of obeying humans, giving itself the name "Murderbot" and embracing its newfound freedom. Instead of going on a Kill All Humans rampage, though, the SecUnit gets caught up watching thousands of hours of streaming TV it can now access.

So when SecUnit gets assigned to protect a group of hippie scientists investigating a backwater planet, it thinks it's just going to stand by and watch its stories while they do their work. The trouble is that the group's leader, Dr. Mensah (Noma Dumezweni), is annoyingly intrigued by SecUnit's not-quite-human behavior, and the augmented human data expert Gurathin (David Dastmalchian) is convinced that SecUnit is somehow compromised, ready to betray the group to corporate interests at any moment. The thing is, SecUnit actually is hiding something, just not what Gurathin thinks, and as the world around them gets more dangerous, the SecUnit and the augmented human will have to find a way to work together if any of them hope to get off the planet alive.

All of this unfolds to us as an audience with the help of narration from SecUnit itself, who throws its own commentary about the humans into every scenario, lets us know what it's thinking, and gives us a peek at its favorite show, "The Rise and Fall of Sanctuary Moon," a "Star Trek"-style soap opera featuring gloriously over-the-top performances from John Cho, Jack McBrayer, and others.

One of the smartest things about the way Martha Wells tells the "Murderbot" stories, something the show quickly grasps and reflects, is the constant juxtaposition of disparate elements, all through SecUnit's eyes. It's a corporate product, and because of its TV addiction it's constantly consuming other corporate products, but it's also constantly on the hunt for emotional context. It finds humans disgusting and far too dependent on their feelings, and yet it can't look away from the very real drama playing out in their lives. It's not bound to obey humans, and yet it feels a sense of duty. These are all key to making "Murderbot" work as a series, and creators Chris and Paul Weitz seem to instantly realize their vitality, giving the show a very strong start.

Like Martha Wells' books, "Murderbot" moves at a brisk pace, leaving viewers to infer a great deal about the world surrounding the characters and focusing intently on SecUnit's own evolving state of being through 10 half-hour episodes you won't want to stop watching. Each key ingredient, from the supporting cast to the script to the production design, falls in line relatively seamlessly (though at times the show perhaps moves a little too fast for its own good), but the key to it all is without question Alexander Skarsgård's performance as the title character.

We've seen Skarsgård play drama (and how he got super ripped for his part in "The Northman"), campy genre, and even comedy before, but we've never quite seen him like this, and it's a triumphant performance. As SecUnit, he conjures wide-eyed stares of curiosity and befuddlement, makes his otherwise placid face jump in unexpected ways, and works a thousand subtle gestures into playing a being who must keep its emotions in check lest it be discovered. A key element of Murderbot's appeal is the character's simultaneous fascination with and repulsion over humanity, something human readers and viewers can no doubt relate to, and Skarsgård keeps that front and center at all times. It's immediately one of his finest performances, and with David Dastmalchian and Noma Dumezweni doing great work of their own to complement his characterization, Skarsgård truly shines.

No adaptation is exact, of course. It's the nature of moving from one medium to another, which means that Wells devotees are bound to have their quibbles with the way "Murderbot" makes the leap from page to screen. Those issues aside, and apart from the occasional pacing hiccup, this a remarkable new series packed with humor, heart, and big ideas that are both constantly present and never in the way of a thumping good sci-fi story. "Murderbot" is a show you can quickly, easily fall in love with, and it leaves us with the hope that there are many more adventures still to come.

"Murderbot" premieres May 16 on Apple TV+.