“Murderbot” Season 1 ends with the titular robo finally managing to make the connections with people like it’s seen on its many serials – only to decide to leave them and forge its own path.
The finale ends with Murderbot (Alexander Skarsgård) and the Preservation Aux team returning to Port FreeCommerce after their mission went up in flames. The team worked hard to get Murderbot back into their possession and its wiped memory and personality – developed courtesy of its busted governor module – restored. When all is said and done, and despite the fact that Murderbot defied the odds and grew to care about the team, it makes the decision to sneak away in the night and explore alone.
“One of the reasons that we wanted to do this is that we felt that the book had a really beautiful ending, and it put his finger on something thematic, which is the idea that personhood is not reducible, that you shouldn’t reduce people into what you want them to be,” Paul Weitz told TheWrap. “There’s a way that it seems like the series is headed with Murderbot in terms of its love for the Preservation Aux team and but it brings to question whether that’s being true to the character or whether it’s being true to itself, because it doesn’t want to be human.”
Murderbot’s choice to leave came after the Preservation Aux crew spent days celebrating its return and integrating it even more into their group. But with a growing desire to find itself, Murderbot chooses to sneak out and leave the planet on its own. It’s caught at the door by Gurathin (David Dastmalchian) – who was the most anti-Murderbot of the entire team all season – and both showrunners agreed that scene had to be “softly stated” to get the moment and decision across.
“I think the key was in the line ‘I have to check the perimeter’ and how much that was going to carry,” Chris Weitz said. “And everything else is how much it has to be undercut. It has to be sort of softly stated. And then it was how much Gurathin and how much David Dastmalchian could bring to bear. He hasn’t really drunk the space Kool-Aid that that the others have in terms thinking all they need to do is go back to Preservation Alliance and everything is going to be rosy. He understands what it’s like to be lost in the universe. So it was just kind of allowing David, I think, to lead that scene in many ways.”
Paul Weitz added: “I do think that Chris’s point about undercutting sentimentality, the fact that that’s what it says – ‘I have to check the perimeter’ – which is something that’s kind of set up during the series. Alexander, you don’t have to say much too honestly. He’ll talk ad nauseam about anything having to do with the creative aspect of the show, but also, like he gets it instinctively.”
The season ends with Murderbot convincing a sentient spaceship to let it board and hitch a ride out of Port FreeCommerce. For fans of Martha Wells’ books, it likely spiked excitement that they might get a teasing glimpse of ART – short for Asshole Research Transport – a ship that begrudgingly befriends Murderbot in the second novella. The showrunners admitted that how and when to introduce the beloved character has been one of the more daunting aspects of the adaptation.
“ART has to be done so well,” Paul Weitz admitted. “It’s kind of daunting, the idea of having like 15 seconds of ART at the end – to make a decision that’s so important.”
“God willing, or space God willing, we will get a chance to do ART,” Chris Weitz added. “It’s going to be really, really important, because it’s such a wonderful character.”
Luckily for fans of both ART and “Murderbot,” the showrunners will get the chance to bring the character to live. The Apple TV+ series was renewed for a second season just before the Season 1 finale aired.
