Alexander Skarsgård was initially apprehensive “Murderbot” could be too darkish. The actor had come off a string of intense movies, together with “The Northman” and “Infinity Pool,” and he was on the lookout for one thing extra comedic. The title of the collection, primarily based on Martha Wells’ in style science fiction books, didn’t counsel it will be notably humorous.
“I wasn’t familiar with Martha’s novellas, so I just heard the title and I heard ‘sci-fi,’ ” Skarsgård says, talking over the cellphone from Los Angeles. “If you’re not familiar with the books, you think it’s probably going to be an incredibly testosterone-driven, tough guy android kicking ass in space. But I was pleasantly surprised when I started reading [the script]. I had never encountered a character like this.”
The actor was so struck by the titular character that he not solely signed on to star within the Apple TV+ collection but additionally joined as an government producer alongside creators Paul Weitz and Chris Weitz.
“Talking to Chris and Paul and getting to know them got me even more excited,” he says. “They’re so brilliant, and their vision for the character and for the show got me fired up.”
Season 1, which started streaming in Could, relies on “All Systems Red,” the primary ebook in Wells’ futuristic collection “The Murderbot Diaries.” It follows a personal safety cyborg, referred to as a “SecUnit,” who hacks its governing module, permitting it newfound autonomy. An eclectic group of researchers, led by Dr. Mensah (Noma Dumezweni), are pressured to just accept the SecUnit as a part of a planetary mission, and it slowly begins to be taught the way in which of people. The connection between Mensah and their SecUnit, who refers to itself as Murderbot, is charmingly awkward. The pair are pressured to belief one another because the mission goes awry, resulting in an unlikely friendship. In “Command Feed,” the sixth episode launched on Friday, Mensah saves Murderbot from destruction by reluctantly performing surgical procedure on its wiring.
Alexander Skarsgård stars in “Murderbot,” because the titular autonomous robotic within the collection. (Apple)
“Is that what they call trauma bonding in this day and age?” Dumezweni says of the scene in a separate interview over Zoom from New York, the place she is getting ready to star in “Duke & Roya” on Broadway. “Filming it was extraordinary because the special effects guys were amazing. It [Murderbot] was literally in front of me, but that obviously wasn’t Alexander. It looked so real.”
“That dynamic was led by the script, and it was very interesting,” Skarsgård provides. “It was clear that Mensah would be an empathetic character. And Murderbot is not used to being treated respectfully by humans or even being treated as a sentient construct. He’s always been a piece of equipment. Noma and I talked a lot about it. It was a gold mine to explore because there’s so much comedy in their differences.”
Main a TV collection is a primary for Dumezweni, who has beforehand been forged in smaller roles. She wasn’t satisfied by the preliminary pitch at first as a result of sci-fi hasn’t historically had a number of main roles for actors of coloration.
“Usually I’d come in and play the receptionist,” she says. “I love to watch sci-fi. But I wondered: Who am I going to be in this sci-fi world?”
Nevertheless, as soon as she discovered extra concerning the world and the character, the actor modified her thoughts.
“It was an absolute joy to discover that there was nothing that Chris and Paul had to change to make it representational,” Dumezweni says. “It’s lovely not to have to fight for people’s positions in the world based on their skin color.”
“I love to watch sci-fi. But I wondered: Who am I going to be in this sci-fi world?” says Noma Dumezweni about her character in “Murderbot.”
(Apple)
Each actors had been drawn to the collection partly due to its distinctive tone, which lands someplace between motion, comedy and drama. Murderbot is stoic however awkward and unaccustomed to human feelings, which it learns about by surreptitiously watching hours of cleaning soap operas. Mensah’s Preservation Alliance workforce consists of misfits, together with David Dastmalchian’s Gurathin and Sabrina Wu’s Pin-Lee, who typically confound Murderbot’s expectations. The laughs don’t come from intentional punchlines, however as a substitute from situational circumstances and Murderbot’s dry voice-over, in addition to its disinterest in coping with people.
“The writing was so surprising and different and had such a unique tone from the beginning,” Skarsgård says. “What works is that it has this instant combination of being a big, action-packed sci-fi show, but it’s also a workplace comedy.”
As a result of the voice-over is crucial to the story, getting it proper took a number of trial and error. Skarsgård says he apprehensive about how it will be integrated throughout taking pictures, notably as a result of Murderbot is so expressionless and never very verbose in most of the precise scenes.
“How would we juxtapose that with an inner monologue that is more expressive?” he says. “How do you find a fun and interesting balance between the way Murderbot speaks and the way he thinks?”
The voice-over turned an evolving part of the episodes. On set, an assistant director would typically learn the narration off digicam if it felt related for the actors to listen to throughout a selected scene. After filming, Skarsgård, Chris and Paul acquired collectively in Stockholm, New York and Los Angeles for a number of recording periods to check out totally different variations of the voice-over strains.
“It was quite exhausting, but also quite fun creatively because you could see how much the tone of the scene changed when we tweaked the voice-over a little bit,” Skarsgård says. “You could have a moment where there’s no voice-over, and it’s like a non-moment where nothing happens. But then just by adding a little commentary by Murderbot, it suddenly pops into a funny little moment.”
Though the collection adheres to Wells’ ebook, some features of the characters have been expanded. Within the present, Mensah struggles with anxiousness in a number of susceptible moments, which differs from her portrayal on the web page. Dumezweni says she has noticed some pushback from followers of the ebook concerning the adjustments, an expertise she understands from enjoying Hermione Granger in “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child” when it opened within the West Finish.
“That’s what you have to do in film and TV,” she says. “You have to expand, not change. You have to fill in. I love it because only Murderbot can see what’s happening to her in that moment. None of her team can see it until Episode 4. I love those moments. For me, they grow her.”
For Dumezweni, these scenes give Mensah some extent of connection for the viewers, as does the way in which Murderbot is “autism-coded,” as some followers have famous. Skarsgård says the creators didn’t got down to make the character overtly neurodivergent within the collection.
“It’s very clear when you read the novellas and the scripts that it is a character who is not always comfortable in settings with other people and can find interactions with humans tricky to navigate,” Skarsgård says. “To me, it was a character we hoped would be relatable to people in the neurodivergent community, but also in a lot of fans in the LGBTQ community. Murderbot not having a gender or being subscribed to binary sexuality could be relatable, but it’s natural to Murderbot. That was important — this is how Murderbot was created, and none of this [identity] is a big deal to Murderbot.”
“To me, it was a character we hoped would be relatable to people in the neurodivergent community, but also in a lot of fans in the LGBTQ community,” says Alexander Skarsgård.
(Apple)
On the core of the present is the idea of Murderbot’s free will, one thing that will get extra absolutely explored in upcoming episodes.
“It’s now understanding it has free will truly and that there are choices to be made in the world,” Dumezweni says. “Meeting these people gives it a chance to understand that not all human beings are idiots.”
“For me, the inner journey for Murderbot over the course of the season is about what to do with that autonomy,” Skarsgård provides. “The character has unleashed something inside of itself by hacking the governing module and gaining this independence. The journey becomes: I have this autonomy now, but who am I? What am I capable of? What am I willing to do? What are my desires?”
Though “Murderbot” has but to be renewed for a second season, there’s a number of supply materials out there. Wells has written seven books that includes Murderbot, and Skarsgård is happy concerning the potential for extra episodes.
“I love Murderbot,” he says. “I love playing Murderbot. Chris and Paul are not only supremely talented but incredibly nice and generous. If you talk to anyone who worked on the show, I guarantee that everyone had the time of their lives.”
The remaining 4 episodes will reveal the antagonist behind the assaults on the Preservation Alliance and whether or not they’ll efficiently be capable to escape the planet. In addition they supply important backstory into characters like Mensah and Gurathin.
“I can’t wait for people to see each and every story,” Dumezweni says. “And what Alex does in the last two episodes is amazing. I don’t care if I’m in no more seasons, but Alexander Skarsgård has to carry on making seasons of ‘Murderbot.’ He does so much with the tiniest movement of his face. He is extraordinary and he honors the character beautifully.”
“Murderbot’s job will get harder and harder trying to protect these very lovely but also quite naive and inexperienced humans,” Skarsgård says. “It’s not a spoiler to say that eventually Murderbot will care about these humans, but we didn’t want to rush into that. We leaned in slowly. So much of the comedy results from the character’s absolute reluctance to save their lives.”
