this post was submitted on 18 Jun 2025
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I'm enjoying it. Some of the decisions are a little odd. The thing that's most distracting to me is that, in my head, Murderbot appears much more androgynous. That might have been hard to pull off, but Skarsgard is definitely male (even without genitalia). Some of the other characters are goofier than in the books, but I kind of understand the choice.
I hope the show gets people to read the books, but the show is entertaining.
I'm actually a big fan of that decision.
The idea that non-binary people have to visibly appear non-binary is a harmful stereotype. Murderbot's physical appearance is a part of its design that it has no control over. Why should it look androgynous? Just because it perceives itself as genderless, doesn't mean it's creators did.
I hope the show will actually dig into that at some point. I think it's really important for people to see an agender character who still has a strongly masc appearance.
It's an interesting point, and I agree with it politically, but in the books it's made clear secunits look androgynous and non-human.
Some change between media change is always going to happen. I think Skarsgård is doing as good a job as can be done with his face. I'm making peace with it. Maybe the bigger problem is the dismissiveness of the portrayal of Preservation Alliance society. But we did live in the Corporate Rim!
Ugh yeah, it feels like the show is making fun of Preservation, which kinda undermines the show. Contrary to what others seem to think here, in my opinion the added goofiness really detracts a lot from the show.
Agreed. I hope they pull it back. It's clearly where anyone would prefer to live!
I don't agree they look totally 'non-human', since they are able to pass as human security consultant with little to no changes to their appearance. Heavily augmented, but human enough to pass with little more than a heavy sweater/hoodie and a cap.
Honestly, i love the way everyone of the Corporation Rim dismisses Preservation, they are a bunch of backwater hippies... and the fact they do have a working and strong economy just shows how wrong the CR is.
It was only after ART's modifications that Murderbot was able to pass for a heavily augmented human. That was the point of them.
I hope they show the Preservation more seriously later. It was all vague at the start in the books. Though I will be rereading!
ARTs modifications helped, but he did walk around prior to receiving them. ART adjusted his height, how his hair grew, ect, but didn't fundamentally change his looks.
In the books, Murderbot is aggressively no gendered. It gets upset at any suggestions that it has sex characteristics. That was enough for me to form a mental image of androgyny.
I mean, it's fine. They had to go with someone, and that someone was going to have a body, it's just different from what I pictured.
I think the idea that Murderbot's conception of its gender conflicts with its appearance of gender is actually a lot more real, and relatable. If Murderbot is simply genderless because it was designed to be genderless, that flies directly in the face of the story's underlying themes of breaking your own programming and discovering an identity apart from the one you were assigned by society and your expected place in it. So the notion that this thing was designed to look like a very handsome guy, but thinks of itself as having no concept of gender at all seems to fit that much better to my mind. But I get how it's difficult when you start with a book, form an image of a character, and then get met with something that runs completely counter to that image.
I understand how you feel like that's a satisfying portrayal, I'm just saying that's not how it was portrayed in the books. And that's okay, the director has to make decisions when a book is adapted to the screen. Stanley Kubrick decided that, with the state of the art of special effects at the time, the hedge maze in The Shining would have looked stupid, so he got rid of it for the movie. People were upset that it wasn't there, but it was probably the right decision.
Yea, I wish they were both more military look (shorter hair, more armor), and more androgynous... but it was one of the changes i expected to make it work with modern TV.
They could of at least removed his hair and put some clear cybernetics. In the books, you couldn't mistake Murderbot for a human. Even after ART's modifications (adding hair etc) Murderbot still could only pass as a heavily cybernetically augmented human.
I do fear the shied away from the gender stuff.
In the books, Murderbot repeatedly remarks that it can easily pass for human among humans, but other constructs would spot it immediately.
After ART's modifications. Other secunits would know from it's gate and general movement, etc.
The show clearly shows Murderbot as being ACE and uncomfortable with the sexual and gendered reactions of others towards them — which is as important in my view the outward and physical apparent gender.
I do see what your saying, it is just the books have a secunit clearly not looking like any gender. They have skimmed over Muderbot's disgust of gender and sex, but in the books it is constant theme. It's visceral.
To have them be genderless is only half way, as secunits, in the books, also look genderless (and not human).
Skarsgård, for a dude, is doing as good a job as he can. Not many known actors could visually do what I'd have preferred, and also can do a ungendered voice. (Any?). I know it's easier to do it books and realistically they needed a well known actor to pull people to the show.
It's just...just.... That's not my Murderbot!
I just finished a re-read and I didn't get a sense that secunits had an agender appearance, this was after Martha Wells asked online to find out where a bunch of people got the idea that Murderbot was femme-androgynous so it was top of mind to look for in the books.
I remember it being a clear thing, but I'll be rereading soon. It's the book after the next one.
In my imagination, Murderbot looked kinda like the player character from the game 'Citizen Sleeper', pictured below.
Which is to say, very androgynous and very obviously cybernetic.
There's quite a bit of character similarity between them too, because the titular Sleeper is a human consciousness in a cybernetic body that has a lot of biological parts, and they are kept loyal to the company who owns them by a drug that will cause their body to break down if they stop taking it. Same intent as the governor module, but a different approach.
I found Murderbot's physical appearance an important aspect of the books, not just for surface plot reasons (everyone knows they are a bot etc) but because it's a large part of what people need to overcome from the perspective of seeing past their prejudices.
Not quite as I saw them, but I certainly saw it clearly not human. A composite of plastic, metal and flesh. Comfortable with the label it.
Though the counter to that, I'm sure the books mentions sexbots basically being the same platform as secunits, only with a gender and without built in weapons. With a combatunit being the same again, but with even more weapons (including cyber). Which does say maybe Martha Wells had the platform, without armour, as maybe more fleshly than we are thinking.
The TV series is good, but it's not as I saw in my head. Other than "Sanctuary Moon", which nails it.
I am surprised there hasn't been real unset by fans by giving Murderbot gender. They could have at least picked someone who didn't look binary. But Skarsgård has got the right character if not the right face.
Yeah, I agree the bots are genuinely "more fleshy"and with skin and such - just saying where my imagination was at - which thanks to the wonder of books can be quite different for different people.
I wish we knew what the motivation was for choosing the actor. The cynic in me thinks they opted obviously male lead to reduce friction and claims of "wokeness" but without some inside insight we can't know.
I think commercially, they needed a known actor and who can not only look genderless, but sound it? It is easier in books.
Same! Skarsgard was very jarring compared to my mental image of Murderbot.