One of the most fun shows of the summer has been Apple TV+’s Murderbot, a charming adaptation of Martha Wells’ beloved sci-fi series The Murderbot Diaries.
The series centers on rogue security android Murderbot (Alexander Skarsgård), who doesn’t do much murdering but does do quite a bit of TV binge-watching. (Shout out to The Rise and Fall of Sanctuary Moon.) Over the course of the season, Murderbot goes from hating “asshole” humans to forging an unexpected bond with the humans it’s been tasked with protecting. And even though Season 1 functions as its own contained story, adapting the entirety of Wells’s novella All Systems Red, its finale leaves the door open for future seasons.
What happens at the end of Murderbot Season 1?
Murderbot Season 1 ends on a happy, if bittersweet, note. After the nefarious company wipes its data and almost plunges it in an acid bath, Murderbot regains its memories and reunites with its humans from the utopian Preservation Alliance. They’ve got good news! They’ve bought its contract from the company, and they hope to bring it back to Preservation so it can be a free agent.
However, Murderbot has other plans. It doesn’t quite know what it wants to do, but it knows it doesn’t want anyone else making decisions for it. That includes its favorite humans, like Dr. Mensah (Noma Dumezweni). So it hitches a ride into space by itself, headed for new adventures, which the show will hopefully explore in Season 2.
Will there be a Season 2 of Murderbot?
Apple TV+ announced July 10 that Murderbot has officially been renewed for a Season 2, meaning we’ll definitely be seeing more of Murderbot in the future.
What would a Season 2 of Murderbot be about?
Murderbot‘s second season will likely adapt Artificial Condition, the second entry in The Murderbot Diaries series. In that novella, Murderbot joins forces with a research transport vessel (fan-favorite ART) and begins to unravel the dark, murderous secrets of its past.
However, Murderbot showrunners Paul and Chris Weitz have discussed incorporating elements from other books into Season 2, telling Nexus Point News in an interview, “We would talk with Martha Wells, we might end up using shuffling the deck a little bit, using some stuff from, say the third or fourth book with stuff from the second book, but we don’t know yet.”
Bringing in parts from later books would also allow Murderbot to bring back members of the PreservationAux team, who don’t figure into Artificial Condition. Great news, because I’m not ready to give them all up just yet!