Murderbot Scores Season 2 Renewal At Apple TV+

Despite delivering a lot less killer android action than its title may have led us to believe we’d be getting, Paul and Chris Weitz’s Murderbot has won us over with its mordant funniness, absorbing off-kilter vibe, and inspired central performance from star Alexander Skarsgård. More importantly though, it’s clearly won over the execs at its Apple TV+ home, too. Yes, ahead of the sci-fi comedy’s Season 1 finale landing on the streamer tomorrow, Apple confirmed just this afternoon that Murderbot has already been recommissioned for Season 2.

Adapted from the first book in speculative fiction author Martha Wells’ bestselling The Murderbot Diaries series, the first season of the Weitz brothers’ show has followed Skarsgård’s titular self-hacking security construct as he struggles to hide his newfound free-will and to reconcile his general apathy towards humans with an ever-growing interest in the species and his own burgeoning humanity. But while it’s been a pleasure to watch Murderbot interact with his PresAux pals — Bharadwaj (Tamara Podemski), Ratthi (Akshay Khanna), Pin-Lee (Sabrina Wu), Arada (Tattiawna Jones), Mensah (Noma Dumezweni), and Gurathin (David Dastmalchian) — over the course of the series, we don’t yet know whether that particular gaggle of Earthlings will be returning for Season 2. *POTENTIAL SPOILER ALERT* As those who’ve read any of Wells’ books will be aware, the second novel, Artificial Condition, sees Murderbot leave the PresAux team behind to begrudgingly offer his services to a new group of sentient meatsacks. Whether the show will head in the same direction very much remains to be seen.

With seven books (and counting) in Wells’ Murderbot Diaries already, there’s plenty of scope for the Weitz brothers to keep on expanding the series and digging deeper into its titular security unit. And if Skarsgård’s comments when Empire interviewed the actor back in April are anything to go by, the Swedish star certainly has a strong enough affinity to the character to spend more time under his (synthetic) skin. “I found Murderbot more relatable than most characters I’ve ever played,” Skarsgård told us. “There’s a social awkwardness, or just trying to figure out how to fit into a group.”

Will Murderbot ever find a way to fit in? What’s going to happen to ‘Sanctuary Moon’ in Season 2? And who will our beloved non-murderous android be helping out when he returns? We’ll find out the answers to those questions in good time. But first, we’ve got a Murderbot Season 1 finale to watch. Roll on tomorrow!