The Reason Murderbot’s Tone Feels Off

Martha Wells’ book series uses wry humor to tell a story about artificial intelligence, humanity, and free will. The Apple TV+ adaptation tries to do the same—with mixed results.

A confession: This dispatch will not be coming to you from one of the long-devout Martha Wells faithful. I’m a convert, a curious reader who turned to Wells’ The Murderbot Diaries series after reading my colleague Meghan Herbst’s fantastic 2024 profile of the author, which left me questioning who would be challenged with taking on the series’ title character in Apple TV+’s adaptation and why it was Alexander Skarsgård.