Murderbot Season 2 has somehow assembled a ludicrously good cast
Steve Buscemi, Michael Sheen, Tramell Tillman and a silly number of excellent actors are joining one of the better recent sci-fi shows
I was already looking forward to Murderbot Season 2. Now Apple has announced the new cast and apparently decided that simply making another good season wasn’t enough – it needs an unnecessarily talented cast.
They’ve added Steve Buscemi, Michael Sheen, Tramell Tillman, Katy O’Brian, John Cho, Wanda Sykes, Patton Oswalt, Topher Grace, Blair Underwood, Nicholas Braun and a whole pile of other people.
It’s pretty impressive.
I’ve been a fan of Murderbot for a while, although I have only read the first three books so far. I loved All Systems Red, the first of Martha Wells’s books, and was warily optimistic when Apple announced the TV adaptation. Happily, Alexander Skarsgård turned out to be pretty much perfect as the antisocial SecUnit that would much rather watch terrible soap operas than interact with humans. (He’s pretty relatable.)
Fortunately, he’s returning.
Murderbot Season 2 has added 25 new cast members
Apple revealed the enormous new cast a few days ago, with 25 recurring and guest actors joining the second season.
Along with Buscemi, Sheen, Tillman and the others above, the list includes Martha Plimpton, Bridget Everett, Brendan Hunt, Griffin Newman, Jack McBrayer, Clark Gregg and Kali Reis.
I’m not going to lie – I don’t know them all, but I know some, and there are enough recognisable people here to populate several television shows. (Which might be a clue. More on that in a sec.)
What’s particularly interesting is that Apple hasn’t revealed who most of them are playing. For anyone who has read the books, this immediately raises one very important question.
Who is playing ART?
ART, which stands for Asshole Research Transport, is the artificial intelligence controlling the research ship Murderbot encounters in Artificial Condition, the second book in the series.
Without getting into spoilers, ART becomes extremely important. I’m also a fan of sarcastic robots / AIs for some reason, and ART is great.
Fans are currently trying to work out who has been cast in the role, assuming ART appears in Season 2 as expected. Michael Sheen seems to be a popular suggestion, although I’ve also seen Steve Buscemi and Patton Oswalt mentioned.
Any of those could work.
Personally, the prospect of Murderbot reluctantly arguing with an AI voiced by Michael Sheen sounds pretty damned good.
Some of them might be in Murderbot’s terrible TV soaps
There is another possibility that I alluded to earlier.
One of the funniest parts of the first season was The Rise and Fall of Sanctuary Moon, the melodramatic soap opera Murderbot spends much of its free time watching. The show expanded something that mostly happens inside Murderbot’s head in the books and turned it into an actual recurring TV show within the TV show. The cast featured a captain played by John Cho and others. It was great and really well done.
So at least some of these surprisingly famous actors could be appearing in that. Cho is in this one too, so the soap will definitely be back. I hope so, as The Rise and Fall of Sanctuary Moon was a lot of fun.
That would also explain how Murderbot can suddenly add 25 characters without the second season becoming a short TV equivalent of Avengers: Endgame.
Fans seem suitably excited in corners of the internet where I frequently lurk. Reddit threads discussing the announcement quickly attracted thousands of upvotes, with much of the reaction basically boiling down to disbelief that Apple managed to get so many good actors into one show. A sentiment with which I clearly concur.
Tramell Tillman is an especially interesting addition after being so ridiculously good as Mr Milchick in Severance. (Which if you haven’t seen, you should, it’s awesome – my review is here.) Katy O’Brian has become another reliable presence in genre films and TV, while Buscemi and Sheen are the sort of actors who immediately make practically anything more interesting.
When is Murderbot Season 2 coming out?
Good question – and I don’t know.
Season 2 is currently in production, with filming taking place in Madrid, but Apple hasn’t announced a release date yet. But at least it is happening.
As I mentioned, I was worried before the first season came out. But it worked because it understood what makes Murderbot such a good character. There was some great action and some excellent science fiction, but the real appeal was watching an incredibly dangerous artificial being desperately trying to avoid eye contact and get back to its favourite TV shows. It’s a cool character and I think Alexander Skarsgård nailed it.
Now Apple has surrounded him with one of the strangest and most impressive collections of guest actors I’ve seen announced for a TV show in ages.
I was already looking forward to Season 2, but I’m especially keen to see the Asshole Research Transport. Hopefully, it won’t be too long.
The first two novellas are now available in one book – which you can check out here.
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