Last month, the Apple TV+ subscription-exclusive Murderbot earned an early Season 2 renewal, which isn’t too surprising since considering the positive reception it earned since premiering on the 2025 TV schedule. The show’s first season adapted the book All Systems Red by Martha Wells, and with six other stories comprising The Murderbot Diaries book series, and a seventh one on the way, there’s plenty of material to keep this show running for multiple seasons. That said, executive producer David S. Goyer informed CinemaBlend that Season 2 may take a different approach with adaptation compared to how Season 1 was handled.
Though my recent conversation with Goyer was largely covering the final season of Netflix’s The Sandman, including him breaking down those big twists in the finale and how he and co-creator Allan Heinberg were originally going to cameo in Morpheus’ funeral, we did spend some time discussing other topics. Along with the Man of Steel writer sharing his thoughts on James Gunn’s Superman, he also had this to say when I brought up Murderbot Season 2 and how showrunners Paul and Chris Weitz had said before Season 1 premiered that the next season could mash up the following three books in Martha Wells’ series:
Well, we just ourselves heard about the pickup I think a day before the announcement. So I’m actually supposed to be talking to them soon about that, but I believe the plan is still that it be kind of a mashup. Part of it also is that we don't know that we'll get 6 or 7 seasons, and all the cast members that are in the first season that we have deals with aren't necessarily prominently featured in some of the next books. So there are just different considerations, but none of that has been firmly decided yet at all.
In this age of streaming, it’s a lot harder to get a gauge on how long a show will last. Currently For All Mankind and Slow Horses are Apple TV+’s longest-running shows, with the former eventually returning for a fifth season and the latter guaranteed at least three more seasons. Rather than risk assuming the critically-acclaimed Murderbot will air for a similar amount of time, it sounds like David S. Goyer and the other folks in charge of this show are leaning more towards streamlining the available literary material, which could mean a shorter run in the… well, long run.
Then, as David Goyer pointed out, there’s also the other main cast members besides Alexander Skarsgård to consider. Without getting into spoilers, the next few books in the Murderbot Diaries series see the titular character embarking on a journey where he meets other characters and doesn’t reunite with the likes of Mensah and Gratin until much later. It’s not as though Apple TV+ can just tell actors like Noma Dumezweni and David Dastmalchian to just wait however many years, and then expect them drop everything once it’s time for their characters to be brought back into play.
But like Goyer said, nothing’s been decided yet, and considering that there’s often a couple years of waiting between seasons of Apple TV+ shows, it may be a while until we learn what’s happening for Murderbot Season 2. For now, Season 1 is available to enjoy in its entirety, and you’re always welcome to star reading Martha Wells’ books to learn what’s coming up.
