Murderbot Trailer: Alexander Skarsgård Is A Socially Awkward Android In Apple TV+ Sci-Fi Series

Murderbot, Murderbot, does whatever a Murderbot does — except for, well, murdering actually. Or at least that's the hook for Chris and Paul Weitz's upcoming Apple TV+ sci-fi series Murderbot. An adaptation of Martha Wells' bestselling Murderbot Diaries books, the show is set to see Alexander Skarsgård play a self-hacking security bot who finds himself searching for the meaning of life — and a way out of work — while being forced to connect with actual people. Poor dude! And you can check out Apple's newly released trailer for the series below;

Speaking to Empire for this month's Jaws At 50 issue, Murderbot star Skarsgård called the titular awkward android "more relatable than most characters I've played." And while that's probably not saying much for a man who's previously played vampires, vikings, and *shudders* tech bro billionaires, this first trailer for his new show perfectly underlines where the actor's coming from. Voracious consumer of content, incredibly reluctant to work, constantly running an uber-sarcastic inner monologue, and socially inept beyond belief — he's just like us, only, y'know, he's called Murderbot and looks way cooler doing it. But seriously, from the grubby sci-fi aesthetic, to the smartly selected supporting line-up (Noma Dumezweni, David Dastmalchian — yes please!), to Skarsgård's titular rogue-bot, who's giving Alan Tudyk in Resident Alien level fish-out-of-water but with a slight Scandi edge, everything about this looks primed and ready to do Wells' books justice.

And here's the synopsis for your perusal, just in case: "In a high-tech future, a rogue security robot (Skarsgård) secretly gains free will. To stay hidden, it reluctantly joins a new mission protecting scientists on a dangerous planet…even though it just wants to binge soap operas." Among said scientists are Maroc Rey, Sabrina Wu, Tattiawna Jones, Tamara Podemski, Josh Cruddas, and Akshay Khanna.

Will Murderbot end up committing any murders? Is he secretly a cousin of either Spider-Verse villain The Spot or an undercover member of The Force Awakens' Guavian Death Gang? And can we get some screener links for sci-fi soap opera The Rise And Fall Of Sanctuary Moon starring John Cho please? We'll find out the answers to at least one of those questions when Murderbot premieres on Apple TV+ on 16 May.