“Murderbot” partial poster featuring Alexander Skarsgård.
Murderbot — a new sci-fi series starring Alexander Skarsgård in the title role — premieres on streaming this week.
Created by Paul Weitz and Chris Weitz and executive produced by David S. Goyer, Murderbot is an AppleTV+ original series consisting of 10 episodes.
The official summary for the series reads, “Based on Martha Wells’ bestselling Hugo and Nebula Award-winning book series The Murderbot Diaries, Murderbot is a sci-fi thriller/comedy about a self-hacking security construct who is horrified by human emotion yet drawn to its vulnerable clients.
“Played by Skarsgård, 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.”
Murderbot also stars Noma Dumezweni, David Dastmalchian, Sabrina Wu, Akshay Khanna, Tattiawna Jones and Tamara Podemski.
The first two episodes of Murderbot will arrive on AppleTV+ on Friday, May 16, at 12:01 PT/3:01 ET. After that, a new episode of the series will premiere every Friday at the same time through July 11.
You must be a subscriber to AppleTV+ to watch Murderbot on the streaming service. AppleTV+ offers one ad-free tier, which costs $9.99 per month after a seven-day free trial.
What Are Critics Saying About ‘Murderbot’?
As of this publication, Murderbot has received a 98% “fresh” rating from Rotten Tomatoes critics based on 40 reviews.
The RT Critics Consensus for the series reads, “Alexander Skarsgård’s superbly dry wit brings a lot of heart to Murderbot, making for a refreshingly jaunty sci-fi saga about finally coming out of one’s shell.”
Alan Sepinwall of Rolling Stone is among the top critics on RT who give the series a “fresh” rating, writing, “Murderbot isn’t an exact recreation of the books — and it’s too irreverent to be the kind of thing Murderbot would enjoy — but it’s very fun and satisfying as its own thing.”
The series also earned a “fresh” rating from Nina Metz of The Chicago Tribune, who writes on RT, “Self-awareness means Murderbot has developed squishy qualities, like feelings. One of those feelings is the desire for self-determination … paving the way for a new story in the series’ next inevitable season.”
Also lauding Murderbot on RT is Lili Loofbourow of The Washington Post, who writes, It’s a decidedly silly show, but one in which Skarsgard, who so brilliantly plays sociopathic men, portrays a disdainful but soft-eyed killing machine with a lot of anxious ‘humanity.’”
Eric Deggans of NPR also gives the series a “fresh” review on RT, writing, “Murderbot is the latest example of a trend I’ve noticed on streaming TV — exquisitely produced science fiction and fantasy shows that may not be seen outside of a small-yet-passionate fanbase.”
As of this publication, there is only one “rotten” review from RT’s group of top critics, which comes from Slant Magazine’s Steven Nguyen Scaife. In his review on RT, Nguyen Scaife writes, “The rogue security cyborg at the center of the series is less a vengeful killer than a quiet quitter.”
Murderbot begins streaming Friday at 12:01 a.m. PT/3:01 ET with a two-episode premiere on AppleTV+.
Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/timlammers/2025/05/15/what-time-does-alexander-skarsgrds-murderbot-premiere-on-streaming/