Dr. Damien P. Williams, Magus

HO. LEE. SHIT.

MURDERBOT SERIES! With Martha Wells as consulting producer! YES!

Ngl, Alexander Skarsgård's name, there, caught me off-guard, as I always read SecUnit as AGGRESSIVELY agender. Like, if I had my own personal druthers Murderbot would be portrayed by a particularly buff Asia Kate Dillon or Vico Ortiz.

But I also a) love Skarsgård's work, and b) take heart that Martha Wells is directly consulting. So I'm gonna stay in "Cautiously Hype" territory.
https://variety.com/2023/tv/news/apple-murderbot-series-alexander-skarsgard-1235838405/

Apple Orders 'Murderbot' Series From 'About A Boy' Filmmakers

A sci-fi series based on Martha Wells novels, 'The Murderbot Diaries,' has landed at Apple TV+.

Variety
Dec 15, 2023 at 3:04amWeb
Show threadDr. Damien P. Williams, MagusDec 15, 2023
And here's an interview with @marthawells on @NPR's Here & Now!
https://www.wbur.org/hereandnow/2023/12/15/murderbot-system-collapse-book
'Murderbot' science-fiction series returns with 'System Collapse' | Here & Now

"System Collapse" is the seventh installation of the series.

WBUR
Show threadSally StrangeDec 15, 2023
@Wolven my thoughts exactly!
Show threadSuperTwaddleDec 15, 2023

@Wolven Oooooo. Love me some Murderbot (NOT THE BOSTON DYNAMICS & ILK OBVS)!

Hope they do the series right!

Show threadSuperTwaddleDec 15, 2023
@Wolven Whoa. Skarsgård, huh? I 100% read Murderbot with a kinda female voice.
Show threadMikeDec 15, 2023
@SuperTwaddle @Wolven
Show threadSuperTwaddleDec 15, 2023
@Subumbral @Wolven Ok, that works :)
Show threadⒶstropubDec 15, 2023
@SuperTwaddle @Wolven I do as well.
Show threadⒶstropubDec 15, 2023
@SuperTwaddle @Wolven Addendum: I might be in the minority here, but I’ve yet to be convinced that Skarsgård is a great actor. Just looked through his filmography and am underwhelmed. What I’ve seen I barely remember his performance, and garbage like Battleship I would only watch under duress. I don’t know if he can pull off the below the surface hurricane of anxiety and doubt. I hope I’m wrong, but I have high expectations for Murderbot.
Show threadJulian Andres Klode 🏳️‍🌈Dec 16, 2023

@Astropub @SuperTwaddle @Wolven I think you'll find that attractive looks and your daddy being a popular actor will go a long way regardless of your own acting skills if they aren't bad.

And speaking of bad, even Adam Sandler got to make movies, so who knows what really matters.

Show threadWillDec 15, 2023
@Wolven I always see Dark Fate Mackenzie Davis in my head.
Show threadMichael W Lucas Dec 15, 2023

@Wolven

Yes to all of this, and:

Special "producer" titles are about getting a cut of the gross, not the net. I'm delighted that a writer negotiated a Hollywood deal that got them an actual piece of the action, instead of the Hollywood-accounting "we lost money" bullshit.

Show threadJessica   🇺🇦 🇵🇸 ✡️Dec 15, 2023
@Wolven The gendered actor thing is really worrying me.
Show threadJaycieDec 15, 2023
@Wolven Positively vibrating with excitement.
Show threadflopperdogDec 15, 2023
@Wolven
Oooh yeah that's gonna be a tough one for me -- I want to like this but to me Murderbot's always been *clearly* femme. Robot femme, but still. So that's going to give me a LOT of cognitive dissonance right off the bat. It'll be interesting to see how they handle it.
Show threadDeb has moved! (see profile) 🇨🇦Dec 15, 2023
@Wolven 💯
My reaction tracks with all that.
@marthawells
Show threadDeb has moved! (see profile) 🇨🇦Dec 15, 2023
@Wolven sadly, it's apple, so I guess I'll never see it 💔
Show threadNonya Bidniss 🥥🌴Dec 15, 2023
@Wolven I was also perplexed by him as the lead but after I considered it for a bit I thought they'll probably be able to make him up to look different enough to pass as Murderbot.
Show threadQuixoticgeekDec 15, 2023
@Wolven I always pictured murder bot more like Frankie Adams (Bobbie draper in the expanse...)
Show threadmerlin / alex glowDec 16, 2023

@Wolven Aaaahhhhhh!! Same concerns, but cautious excitement...

I know there's many of us for whom Murderbot is our Sanctuary Moon. 🫶

Show threadDr. Damien P. Williams, MagusDec 16, 2023
@alexglow 10000% this
Show threaddaveDec 16, 2023
@Wolven I wonder if it was one of those "taking him helped get the show made" deals, or maybe even a "he loved the books so much he got the show greenlit" situation. because I'm with you, he's nothing like how I'd pictured murderbot. but I'm so psyched to see it getting made at all, I'm happy to wait to get proven wrong.
Show threadDr. Damien P. Williams, MagusDec 16, 2023

@dave A thing that makes me cautiously optimistic about this is that Skarsgård throws his whole self into EVERY role he has, whether that be the bizarrely inhuman billionaire on SUCCESSION (apparently? never seen it) or the seething rage and driving obsession of THE NORTHMAN or when playing a weird-ass version of himself as in that one episode of ATLANTA.

He Commits

Show threadStanziDec 16, 2023
@Wolven we won't get to know it in season 1, but I'm already thinking about, who could voice ART.
Show threadPippinDec 19, 2023

I did an image search for "butch identity" recently, and now I think that's probably a lot like what SecUnits could look like. (Since I'm male I of course at first imagined Murderbot looking… well, like me, but I did often think maybe it should be less so. I think the point when Amena called it "third mom" was when my brain did a kind of inflection-point thing and I could imagine Murderbot being a lot less purely-masculine and probably with quite a bit of feminine mixed in. Perhaps quite a *lot*.)

Example: how'd it be if our SecUnit friend looked a little more like this: