You might know that a screen adaptation of The Murderbot Diaries, a series (of mostly novellas) written by Martha Wells, is under development by Apple TV+. Behind the production are brothers Chris and Paul Weitz, who will write, direct, and produce, and Wells will serve as consulting producer.
The release date has not been publicized yet, but according to Reactor, the episode scripts have already been written. Presumably, the tv series will be based on All Systems Red, the first installment of the book series.
As I love Murderbot, I started off highly suspicious. (Suspicious of any adaptations, that is; I have no special qualms with Apple TV.) This team seems to get it, though. Their pitch reads as follows:
“‘Murderbot’ is an action-packed sci-fi series, based on the award-winning books by Wells, 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.”
When comparing this one-paragraph description to some other write-ups about the adaptation, a few things stand out. Firstly, Murderbot is not a robot. Furthermore, Murderbot never describes itself as a he (but doesn’t object to it). Also, Murderbot is horrified by human emotion and bored with human drama in real life and certainly not drawn to the emotion; if Murderbot is drawn to anything non-media-related, it’s its job of protecting clients, particularly certain kinds of clients (the smart, or small and soft kind). Finally, Murderbot does emphatically not want to live like a human, it wants to be left alone to consume media (which is only a tiny fraction of living like a human).
The adaptation team does get Murderbot; those other writers don’t. (The only iffy detail that copy includes is calling Murderbot an android; The Murderbot Diaries use the word construct. An android is less wrong than a robot, IMO.)
Since December 2023, when Apple TV+ announced the ten-episode Murderbot adaptation, I’ve kept an eye out for more detailed news. Initially, casting was left almost entirely open; only Alexander Skarsgård as Murderbot was announced. Now we know a little more: Noma Dumezweni will play Dr. Mensah.
In addition, David Dastmalchian will play Gurathin. Ratthi will be played by Akshay Khanna, Arada by Tattiawna Jones, Pin-Lee by Sabrina Wu, and Bharadwaj by Tamara Podemski.
Having once spent a sleepless night watching part of The Legend of Tarzan, I know Skarsgård will have no trouble keeping his face SecUnit expressionless. (That is confirmed by stills I’ve seen of The Northman. I’ve also seen him in Godzilla vs. Kong, but I have no memory of his character.) The only productions I’ve seen Dumezweni in are two episodes of Doctor Who and two episodes of Only Murders in the Building. (And I know she was well-reviewed for her role as Hermione in the stage play Harry Potter and the Cursed Child.) What I remember of her impresses me, though; I’m glad she got cast as Dr. Mensah.
Dastmalchian I remember from the Ant-Man movies and Dune: Part One. (IMDB tells me I’ve also seen him in Blade Runner 2049 and an episode of CSI, but again, no memory.) Wu I’ve seen in one episode of Abbot Elementary and Jones in one ep of Murdoch Mysteries; Khanna and Podemski are completely new to me.
As the two core characters of All Systems Red, Murderbot and Dr. Mensah should have a lot of screen time, so I’m delighted that actors of renown have been cast for the roles—indeed, the big names bode well for the adaptation, I hope.
At this point, there’s still one thing that bothers me: I haven’t seen enough of Skarsgård’s work to tell whether he can creditably do nuance, and a lot is riding on that, since Murderbot is all about nuance.
On the surface, there’s as much action as in any generic mindless sci-fi action story, but the focus in Murderbot stories is not the what (the action), but the why and how: why do the events of the story unfold as they do, how do people work, how does Murderbot work, and how does it slot itself into this world it doesn’t fully comprehend (or care about). If the writer’s room doesn’t understand that—or isn’t allowed to fully feature the nuance—the adaptation is less likely to be a success. I fervently hope it will be good!
Images: Mashup 1: Noma Dumezweni via BazBam on Twitter and Alexander Skarsgård by Thierry Sollerot via Flickr (CC0 1.0 Universal). Mashup 2: David Dastmalchian by Gage Skidmore via Flickr (CC BY-SA 2.0). Sabrina Wu by Jordan Ashleigh via IMDB. Tattiawna Jones via IMDB. Akshay Khanna by East Photography via IMDB. Tamara Podemski by Thosh Collins via IMDB. Mashups by Eppu Jensen.
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