‘Murderbot’ beginning: Alexander Skarsgård’s killer robot names itself
Alexander Skarsgård’s security robot sets itself free and names itself in this clip from the AppleTV+ series “Murderbot.”
Stars lamenting over three-hour sessions squeezing into Iron Man-like sci-fi suits are common in Hollywood.
So Alexander Skarsgård was ready for costume drama after signing up to play an armored, helmeted cyborg security guard in the AppleTV+ sci-fi comedy “Murderbot” (first two episodes now streaming, then weekly on Fridays).
But Skarsgård, 48, wasn’t expecting the depths of (self-inflicted) preparation pain for scenes withouthis SecUnit character’s full-body armor suit. The Swedish actor had foolishly vowed to executive producers Paul and Chris Weitz that he’d go mannequin-smooth while playing the unsuited killing machine during moments of repose.
“I made the completely stupid choice to be completely hairless,” Skarsgård confesses to USA TODAY. “So I waxed my entire body. Like a Brazilian wax, but top to toe. I was screaming. And then I had to keep doing it for six months for a long shoot. That was a terrible idea.”
The Weitz brothers (known for comedies from “American Pie” to “About a Boy”) make clear Skarsgård’s waxing commitment was real, and entirely his idea. “This was not at all our demand,” Chris Weitz says, chuckling. “He thought it was right for the character. He regretted it.”
And yet: Bravo! The producers could have worked around the non-robotic hair on Murderbot’s part-organic, part-synthetic construct. But the waxing shows an oddball commitment to play the curiously malfunctioning SecUnit from Martha Wells’ popular “The Murderbot Diaries” novellas.
The TV series replicates Murderbot’s conflicting dialogues, with an outer voice responding perfunctorily to whatever overlord has hired the budget-friendly, refurbished unit. “That voice is very transactional, just giving and receiving information,” says Skarsgård. “It’s a great contrast to the inner monologue,” which betrays Murderbot’s unfiltered sarcasm, insecurity, TV addiction, and too-blunt tactical analysis. Delivered in a flat cadence, these utterances are right in the comedy wheelhouse for the actor, who put the deadpan into his famed “True Blood” vampire and whose IMDb profile photo shows him inexplicably pantless.
“The character is incredibly idiosyncratic, probably because Alexander is incredibly idiosyncratic,” says Paul Weitz. “Alexander has a twisted sense of humor. He’s a weird dude in the best way.”
Things get twisted onscreen once the security unit hacks the shackles off the corporation-installed governor module and names itself Murderbot. But it lies low, for self-preservation reasons, and is assigned to protect the Preservation Alliance science team, led by the empathic Dr. Mensah (Noma Dumezweni).
Murderbot’s hidden freedom allows obsessive TV viewing on its inner monitors, especially the fictional space opera “The Rise and Fall of Sanctuary Moon.” The series-within-the-series, starring John Cho as a lovestruck space captain, provides a warped education on how humans think.
Protecting the Preservation Alliance (Skarsgård calls them “space hippies”) is also transformational. With the exception of suspicious scientist Gurathin (David Dastmalchian), the group treats its normally abused security unit with kindness for the first time, which brings out Murderbot’s social ineptitude. It detests eye contact, feelings and especially human romantic interludes.
Skarsgård makes the most of these cringeworthy moments. “It was just about leaning in and making it as awkward as possible,” he says.
The restrictive armor helps the subtle comedy with deliberate, stiff movement. Putting the suit on wasn’t too tough, after all. “It started at about an hour, but we got it down to 15 minutes,” says Skarsgård. The costume designers even made game-changing advancements on the fly, especially for vital restroom visits. “They eventually hid a little zipper for me.”
Skarsgård won’t read ‘Murderbot’ casting criticism
Even before shooting began, some vocal Wells fans expressed displeasure about casting the traditionally masculine Skarsgård, saying it contradicts Murderbot’s explicitly asexual and agender identity. The actor avoided the noise. “I never go too deep into the discussion of my casting on Reddit threads,” he says. “I’d always find one that would crush me.”
Still, he emphasizes there is “no gender” in his character. Episode 1 makes that abundantly clear when Dr. Mensah walks in on unarmored Murderbot in the repair bay. Mensah can’t help but give a curious downward look and sees no organs.
“It’s important that you see in the first episode that Murderbot doesn’t have genitals,” says Skarsgård. “It’s butt naked, but there’s no gender there. No genitals, no nipples and no hair. It’s the full Ken doll.”
The series gets gnarly as Murderbot uncovers its own dark past while becoming attached to the humans. Book fans can judge for themselves about the earnest but not entirely faithful adaptation, with a 97 percent positive rating from critics on Rotten Tomatoes. In the increasingly likely world that AppleTV+ orders up a Season 2, there are unexplored “Murderbot” adventures to chronicle.
“We’re not counting our space chickens,” says Chris Weitz. “But there’s definitely much more great material.”
The actor in the suit is game, but wants to make one point very clear before moving forward: That whole real-hairless thing was a Season 1 promise.
“There is only one thing I know about a potential Season 2, if it happens,” Skarsgård says. “And that is (that) Murderbot will have way more hair on its body.”
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