There are so many reasons why it’s worth tuning into Apple TV+‘s brand new sci-fi series, Murderbot. The show is a great adaptation of Martha Wells’s best-selling, and easily addictive, book series. There’s a great mix of cool sci-fi world-building, gory action, and workplace comedy. The cast features a mix of stalwart character actors and up-and-coming talent. There’s a hilarious in-universe TV series called The Rise and Fall of Sanctuary Moon! But most of all, Alexander Skarsgård has the weirdest full frontal nude scene of his career.
Murderbot Episode 1 ends with a sequence that shows Skarsgård’s titular “SecUnit” completely nude, completely uncomfortable, and completely anatomically correct, per the rules of Wells’s twisted universe. That’s right: Murderbot is supposed to be built like an asexual Ken doll.
**Spoilers for Murderbot Episodes 1 & 2, now streaming on Apple TV+**
Murderbot is set in a distant future where most of the universe is ruled by a shady monopoly simply referred to as “The Company.” While humans can live independently in their own colonies, as the hippie scientists of the feel-good commune Preservation Alliance do, the Company controls exploration and trade with an iron (capitalist) fist. So if a team of researchers wants to explore an alien world, they need the Company’s permission and a SecUnit, or Security Unit, rented from said company.
Apple TV+’s Murderbot follows the SecUnit (Alexander Skarsgård) assigned to protect the Preservation Alliance team on their research mission. What none of the scientists realize is that their SecUnit has managed to hack its internal governance module. That’s the programming that should make it impossible for the asexual machine to defy orders or hurt anyone. What this SecUnit does with this radical freedom, however, is, uh, watch a lot of TV. Particularly the aforementioned Rise and Fall of Sanctuary Moon.
This SecUnit has also dubbed themselves, “Murderbot.”
In Murderbot Episode 1, our awkward protagonist is so transfixed by a new episode of Sanctuary Moon, that it almost misses an alien threat to doctors Arada (Tattiawna Jones) and Bharadwaj (Tamara Podemski). Luckily, they catch it in the nick of time. Although, Bharadwaj is injured, Murderbot is able to defeat the alien creature and use their learnings from Sanctuary Moon to calm the shocked Arada.
Murderbot’s mistake, though, is showing their face and displaying empathy. This isn’t normal SecUnit behavior, leading the team’s leader Dr. Mensah (Noma Dumezweni) concerned about the bot. Late in Murderbot Episode 1, she visits Murderbot while they’re in the midst of having their injuries repaired. In doing so, both Dr. Mensah and the audience get a good long look at everything Murderbot’s not packing. Namely, they have no genitals.
Now, a big detail in Martha Wells’s books that Apple TV+’s show honors is the fact that Murderbot is completely asexual and totally uninterested in sex. So much so, the character repeatedly makes delineations between themselves and “Companion Bots,” or “SexBots.” For a SecUnit, it’s almost a point of pride that they have no genitals. They are designed for fighting, not fucking.
Murderbot’s big nude scene in Murderbot Episode 1 keeps this lore alive while also highlighting how vulnerable and scared our leading character feels in this moment. Murderbot is uncomfortable because Mensah is showing earnest concern for their emotions. Moreover, our protagonist is nervous that they could inadvertently reveal their great secret: they have disabled their governance module, making them free.
Sure, Alexander Skarsgård is able to aptly communicate this level of absolute horror through both his physical acting and voiceover. However, the image of a naked Murderbot, stuck in stasis, and completely without human genitals, compounds the tension. It’s an absurd sight: Murderbot is completely helpless, nude like this, and completely cut off from being truly human, thanks to its design.
Alexander Skarsgård’s stripped down before for roles, but in Murderbot, he’s really giving it his all.