Murderbot Is ‘More Relatable Than Most Characters I’ve Played’, Says Alexander Skarsgård

Alexander Skarsgård has played all kinds of roles over the years. He’s been a centuries-old vampire; a vengeful viking; a writer having a very, very bad holiday. But nothing has quite spoken to him like his latest role: Murderbot, in Murderbot. He’s taking on the lead role in Apple TV+’s adaptation of Martha Wells’ The Murderbot Diaries novels, playing a security cyborg who – to its own inconvenience – starts to relate more and more to humanity, whilst deriding our mortal foibles.

“Ironically, I found Murderbot more relatable than most characters I’ve ever played,” Skarsgård tells Empire in a major new career-spanning interview – particularly as a character who’s always on the outside, looking in on the rest of society. “There’s a social awkwardness, or just trying to figure out how to fit into a group,” he says.

While the story of Murderbot – created for TV by Chris and Paul Weitz – unfolds in a sci-fi milieu, there’s a comedic element too, through Murderbot’s detached view of the world. “It’s not interested in humans, humans are idiots,” says Skarsgård. “It’s kind of appalled by them, and it’s been treated horribly by all its clients up until this moment. But then it ends up on this weird planet with this weird group of humans that are outside the corporate system, and they don’t believe in indentured servitude, they want to talk to Murderbot and invite Murderbot in, instead of storing it in the tool shed, like other clients have done, and that freaks Murderbot out.” Maybe we’re all a bit Murderbot – get ready for the most relatable show of 2025.

Read Empire’s full career-spanning Alexander Skarsgård interview in the Jaws At 50 issue, on sale Thursday 10 April. Pre-order a copy online here. Murderbot comes to Apple TV+ from 16 May.