‘Murderbot’ Review: Sci-Fi Comedy That Feels Entirely Robotic

It’s been an interesting start for Apple TV+ this year. Reigning as one of the best places for television, with hits like Severance, The Studio, and Your Friends & Neighbors, the year has been excellent. Looking to shake up that status quo, however, is Murderbot, an adaptation of Martha Wells’ The Murderbot Diaries. Read our Murderbot review.

Starring Alexander Skarsgård as our titular Murderbot, the show follows a SecUnit (short for security unit) who overcomes his programming and gains free will, but must hide his newfound freedom. Also in key roles are David Dastmalchian, Noma Dumezweni, and Sabrina Wu, whilst the show also features a good portion of its cast (Clark Gregg, Jack McBrayer, DeWanda Wise, John Cho) as characters in an in-universe television series titled The Rise and Fall of Sanctuary Moon.

With its interesting concept, the show fails to make a mark, feeling bland in both its visuals and dialogue. Taking place on multiple planets throughout outer space, you’d expect eccentric, or at the very least striking, images but instead, I was not captivated by the cinematography and direction of the series in the slightest. At times, the show is very noticeably flat, with several of its main set pieces feeling very boring.

This is paired with the script, which feels incredibly robotic and not just in terms of our lead robot. Alexander Skarsgård is tasked with playing a robot here, so he can’t be faulted too much, as any emotional depth in his usual performances is absent here due to the conceptual demand. His SecUnit monologues in unexcited monotonous verbiage, feeling like Joe Goldberg but without any of that character’s charm. 

That as it may be, there are a few good jokes nestled throughout the series and many of the other cast members do their best to uplift a disappointing lead character. David Dastmalchian, in particular is at home here, having basically played loveable weirdos his entire career. He brings a charm of suspicion here and the show is all the more better for it. Other cast members that I thought contributed to some of the hilarity this show wanted to lean into include the cast of the show within the show, The Rise and Fall of Sanctuary Moon. It’s a Star Trek-type soap opera and is used heavily here as one of the SecUnit’s interests. It’s played entirely for laughs, and it’s great seeing Clark Gregg, DeWanda Wise, and John Cho here. But in particular, a lot of my laughs were attributed to Jack McBrayer, who remains one of my comedy goats.

Murderbot might work for some people, especially if the humour hits, but for many, it will be seen as a bleak and bland sci-fi comedy due to a rough script and mediocre visuals. Whilst the actors can’t be faulted here, fans of Alexander Skarsgård will be sorely disappointed.

Murderbot is written and directed by Chris and Paul Weitz. The show stars Alexander Skarsgård, David Dastmalchian, Noma Dumezweni, Tattiawna Jones, Akshay Khanna, Tamara Podemski, Sabrina Wu, Clark Gregg, Jack McBrayer, DeWanda Wise, and John Cho.

Murderbot begins streaming on Apple TV+ on May 16th, 2025.

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