#murderbot tv show

[takingontheworldtogether]

not to keep posting about the murderbot casting but alexander skarsgård simply does not look like someone who would watch 49 seasons of sanctuary moon

#he looks constitutionally incapable of following a historical soap opera #murderbot #murderbot diaries #murderbot tv show

[murderousrobot]

Martha Wells shared this on Bluesky.

#the murderbot diaries #murderbot tv show #martha wells

[crashdown]

murderbot casting is getting a little better (gurathin, arada, and mensah in particular look great) however the fact that they hired a nonbinary actor to play a cis woman and cast murderbot as a cis man is kind of. ouch. don't get me wrong i am SO excited for sabrina wu as pin-lee, but this proves they COULD and WOULD hire a genderqueer person for the role but. just didn't. and that's so disapointing.

#however the rest of the casting fucks #they'd just better be SO careful #bc if they fumble this i'm going to cry #murderbot #the murderbot diaries #tmd #the murderbot diaries tv show #murderbot tv show

[rosewind2007]

I’m rather fond of the character of Gurathin in the Murderbot Diaries (some might say I’m a fan) and I’m cautiously optimistic about David Dastmalchian’s casting

I’ve just read a few short articles about the actor but the vitiligo, mixed ancestry (father Iranian-American), history of depression and addiction all seem to indicate he’s a man who understands what being an outsider means, and…well, like I say: cautiously optimistic

Tragically I have an awful track record regarding casting so perhaps I should be worrying more!

#murderbot #the murderbot diaries #murderbot diaries #gurathin #david dastmalchian #murderbot tv show #murderbot tv series #Alex Skarsgård #tmbd

[lopeach]

i get why ppl are upset abt the murderbot casting and i feel it a little too but yall know that masculine ppl can be agender too right? yall know that agender (nonbinary in general) people can and very much are able to be masculine and its not just woman+ ,,,,,right?

#murderbot #murderbot diaries #murderbot tv show #alexander skarsgard #feelin a lil bit like im swinging a bat at a hornets nest but whatever #it needs to be said #im not saying to trust apple to do a good job with the adaptation #i wouldnt trust them farther than i can throw a 50 lbs dumbell #but i AM saying maybe check in with urself next time u see a masculine person with neutral or neopronouns and get this richeously angry #maybe ask why u have that reaction #maybe go make friends with some older queer folks and expand ur understanding or gender/presentation/pronouns #maybe delete tiktok

[eightopals]

About Murderbot and Casting

This topic is heating up with the news of the planned Murderbot TV show.

I should know by now that 80% or more of fans don’t bother actually checking out anything authors say about the appearances of characters in written works. Instead, they just cast whatever actor they fancy at the moment, regardless of that actor’s looks. (It’s not just Murderbot. I’ve seen tons of bad fan casting for properties like the Lymond Chronicles as well.)

I’m talking about canon descriptions and clues to appearance, like specifically ethnic names.

Folks, it’s pretty plain that the majority of the Preservation Aux people are various shades of brown. There’s a great post here on tumblr that goes into the origins of their names:

I have an impression, though, that for a lot of people, these are just made-up science fiction names. They haven’t had the warm, fuzzy experience of recognizing a character’s name or other ethnic identifiers and thinking “she’s like me!”

Quite aside from Ratthi’s name, Wells said in her LiveJournal blog that “Ratthi is super hot. We're talking Sendhil Ramamurthy levels of hot.” OK, that’s not in the canon work. But she’s the author, dudes.

It’s bad enough that the series is proposing very northern European-looking Alexander Skarsgård as Murderbot itself. Watching folks try to whitewash the rest of the cast too is painful.

OK, rant over, back to the usual stuff.

#murderbot #murderbot diaries #murderbot tv show #casting #whitewashing

[aspenispoplar]

Look I know everyone's upset over the casting of Murderbot, or worrying about the show not keeping to the settings and themes, but seriously I'm just really excited that we're actually getting something like this.

Even if it doesn't live up to what the books are like, we can direct a whole bunch of new people to read and fall in love with our favorite book series.

(I also might be a teensy bit worried that all this negativity might convince the studio execs that there isn't a market for this and we could get it cancelled before it's started but thats just my broken risk assessment module (read: anxiety) talking)

Finally, just a reminder that the casting of Alexander Skarsgård doesn't mean that the show won't be good. A nonbinary or BIPOC actor for sure would have been way better casting, but given that (from what I've seen) all we really know is the casting of Murderbot, I really think it's too early to make general judgements on the show.

#murderbot #murderbot show #the murderbot diaries #murderbot diaries #tmbd #murderbot tv show #murderbot casting

[trashmancer]

The Murderbot TV show series cast is looking good. I am impressed.

#the casting announcements have watered my crops #i am even gonna be a mb casting apologist at this point #i can understand why they made the choice they did #i'm excited in any case #murderbot tv show

[andsomemaniacgotridofthewheel]

Yeah, if you cast a cishet white male actor for THAT role it's a gigantic red flag for the whole production. No matter how good, talented or lovely he is, you've already failed. And taken a role away from a non-binary (POC) actor.

And I can only echo the author of this article:

WHAT ABOUT VICO FUCKING ORTIZ???

#murderbot #alexander skarsgard #vico ortiz #martha wells #murderbot series #murderbot books #murderbot tv show

[iasconsumesmedia]

I submit for your consideration: Nick Mohammed, recently of Ted Lasso fame (and thus known by Apple+), as Dr Gurathin.

#Murderbot #murderbot tv show #Nick Mohammed #Also #Dave Patel #as Dr Ratthi #Dave and Nick would nail both those

[theliteraryshard]

#murderbot tv show #the murderbot diaries #secunit #murderbot #apple tv

[takingontheworldtogether]

in honor of the murderbot series casting the guy wildest dreams is allegedly about as murderbot, here's my official tier list of selected men taylor swift has dated ranked by how i'd feel about them playing murderbot

nobody gets "actually a good choice" because casting a cis man to play a specifically genderless character is a coward's move!

#am i going to watch the series? yes #and like hes a good actor im sure he'll do fine #but ugh its so typically hollywood to go genderless character? why lets go to the default #cis man (white) #murderbot #murderbot diaries #murderbot tv show

[youurelovely]

An obnoxious long rant on the Murderbot tv situation. Did I post this with the intention of having a conversation about it? Yes. Am I aware people are probably tired of talking about it and likely don’t think my thoughts are hot shit? Also yes. Anyway,

the post:

A lot of people have been talking about the casting for the tv adaption of Murderbot Diaries. Some people are disappointed and some people are disappointed other people are disappointed.

Plenty of people have already brought up that making Murderbot’s actor a white man is a loaded decision because of how the idea of whiteness as a default protects an inflated and false idea of white superiority. And even more people have talked about how man as a default is also an inflated and false protection of patriarchal standards.

And I agree with both of those ideas.

Other people have brought up that plenty of queer people treat masculinity and men as an unwanted part of the queer community. Which IS true, despite historically men and masculinity being important aspects of queer identity and love, people DO like to pretend non-binary and gender queer people have to all be feminine or they are mislabeled as a threat. Which is so fucked up and obnoxious.

However, I think that this tv series is clearly not making Murderbot’s actor a man to bring attention to queer masculinity as an important part of the queer community. I appreciate the people who are trying to defend the choice because real people are more important than Murderbot, but I think that this is just a clear case of most people reading The Murderbot Diaries and feeling uncomfortable without a clear binary in which to visualize and categorize Murderbot. Which is understandable. Despite my own discomfort with The Gender Binary, I understand people feeling more comfortable with rules and clear distinctions.

This is the THIRD production of Murderbot which has an actor play Murderbot and I doubt I’m the only one who has seen most interviews ask Martha Wells about Murderbot’s gender. Often they will tell her that they personally read the book with Murderbot looking male and made with male genetic material. Which, personal interpretation is fine obviously no one should be attacked just because they are attached to gender essentialism and believe only one of the Definitely Only Two Genders can punch people in the face. But it’s fucking annoying that a book which means so much to me (and other people I guess /jk) can be limited creatively just because people decided that a fantastical robot must have male genetic organics just because Men Punch Good.

I’m not saying that they should have used an actress. And I’m not saying that Murderbot needs to be feminine. But the actor wasn’t chosen because they looked at a range of actors and thought “why NOT a white man? This changes EVERYTHING about queerness!” Also, why NOT an actress? If I’m supposed to see a cis male actor as Murderbot, why not a cis female actress? Better yet, why not someone non-binary who understands the push and pull of expectations and social norms????

If they make Murderbot the one white character I will seriously lose my mind. Even worse if they make more people white to make Murderbot not the only white character. Why the fuck did they do this?

They picked a white man because of a history of success with fandoms/audiences becoming attached to white men. They picked him because they wanted someone who would look like competent security beyond human capabilities and they thought their vision was best described by a white man. Like MOST other science fiction and action movies.

I have always liked the IDEA of science fiction but I cannot enjoy a story which is written by a man for men to enjoy with action heroes and babes hanging off of them. (Tbh fantasy does this too but I was able to find books I liked a lot easier, and also because it’s always been my favorite genre and I was desperate) (Full disclosure I don’t see a problem with this trope if it’s two women but societal expectations aren’t exactly forcing women to be be action heroes or prioritizing women to be damsels for other women to rescue. Unless we think about how black and brown women are expected to cater to white women but that isn’t lesbianism that’s racism. *disclaimer I am a white person) so Murderbot was literally the start of me finding science fiction books to read that weren’t sexist gender essentialism But In Space TM.

So many people have given amazing recommendations that I’ve loved and so many others I’m excited to read next. Murderbot was the start of a genre revival for me!! I never thought I would find science fiction that wasn’t gender essentialist. And tbh I wasn’t looking as hard as I could have, because I had tried so many that sucked, so that’s partly on me. But what’s important is that, for me, Murderbot is an escape from gender norms and a return to a genre which has historical been viewed as leaning on a bioessentialism view of human gender and roles in society, especially due to the science aspect of science fiction. It isn’t the first science fiction book to have a more queer aspect to it, it’s just the first one I’ve read and I know I’m not the only person who has benefited from finding other books to read from people giving thoughtful recommendations online.

Who really cares if Murderbot is played by a man? Except so many comments and interviewers just are too uncomfortable to engage with a character without having that male/female binary and no matter how many times Martha pushes past these questions it just keeps happening. Obviously not all interviewers pester for a confirmation of Murderbot’s canonical organic appearance and one even kept pushing for Murderbot being canonically female. Many even praise her for a non-binary character, some of them also just immediately mention that they think Murderbot has male organics.

It’s just so ridiculous to me that so many people seem to think they are reinventing masculinity in a character which is an intrepid space explorer (and grumpy about it). Although of course there are many things about Murderbot’s trauma and emotional regulation that do not fit into masculine gender norms, it is still the character who Saves The Day and Protects Everyone and Is Super Smart And Strong.

There have been posts examining secunits as male and comfortunits as female and those are just an attempt to examine inter-construct relationships and power dynamics compared to people’s irl experiences so I understand why they were written. And I absolutely do not mean to attack anyone for applying a book to the real world. But it feels like there is no escape from a push to define imaginary robots as a “Realistic” human gender when, for me, this entire book series is a book about an agender character who is tough as nails and accidentally makes friends and learns how to examine the ways in which it was dehumanized by people around it.

Again, people writing analysis examining how a book approaches things that are real issues are not doing anything wrong. Just because I’m sensitive doesn’t mean I’m going to assume I’m king of the universe over here. Other people have LIVES and I’m not going to pester them about their actually extremely thoughtful examination about how Murderbot’s prejudice against comfortunits is reminiscent of sex workers and female sexuality. (No matter how uncomfortable it is. The point is not to be comfortable.)

I will admit though that the audio with a female voice artist ART and a male voice artist Murderbot makes me want to kill myself. Like oh interesting, you see the character who is grumpy and kills as male and the character who SPENDS ITS ENTIRE EXISTENCE TAKING CARE OF PEOPLE AND MAKING A HOME FOR THEM AS FEMALE HUH I WONDER WHERE THAT CAME FROM HOW ORIGINAL OF YOU. I’m sorry I know a lot of people like it and I’ve heard that the voice actress does a great job! So I’m glad people are having fun but I am actively furious. Please enjoy your lives and know I’m a total jackass. Much love. (Genuine)

There are plenty of (amazing and talented) artists who have drawn Murderbot in a way that if you saw that person walking down the street, you could assume that that person identifies as a man. And there isn’t a problem with that, I’ve never been irritated by people drawing it this way. There are also more ambiguous fanarts of Murderbot. It’s all Murderbot to me. Just because I’m partial to lesbian ART and Murderbot doesn’t mean I think that my exact preferences should be fulfilled. (Another disclaimer!!!! Lots of people with a complex identity to gender and sex identify as lesbian. If you were confused, you should try learning more! It’s so cool! And interesting! I’m not misgendering Murderbot.)

But this live action business of only casting men isn’t an accident and it isn’t a fan artist with their headcanons. It’s a production that is purposefully making executive decisions about a character who all of us care about. Tbh someone else said he would make a great Gurathin and I agree.

Murderbot doesn’t exist in a world without gender norms. Murderbot was written by a person who lives in our world with our expectations and boxes and labels and limitations from irl people constantly asking everyone around them to fit into their comfort cube of gender essentialism. I can’t pretend that this is a decision without influences.

Anyway. I’m just fucking disappointed. I hope it’s still cute and fun and tragic. I hope I still like it even though it’s not what I was hoping for. I talked a lot about the gender thing and less about the race thing. Idk what to even say about the race thing besides this is very clearly because audiences and fandoms prefer a white man or woman over any non white ones and they are hoping to give it a boost. Why even pick this book is you aren’t willing to have anyone nonwhite celebrated in a fun little robot story.

#murderbot diaries #life commentary #.uncalled.for.arrogance.regarding.feeling.cheated.about.something.i.was.never.promised. #.tired.of.ranting.about.this……for.now. #murderbot tv show

[sainamoonshine]

The funniest thing the Murderbot tv show could do is go REALLY hard on the references in the serials MB watches. I’m thinking bringing back the Stargate Atlantis cast for WorldHoppers. Getting a snippet of a Sanctuary Moon episode and it’s the « Rebecca it’s not what you think! I won’t hesitate bitch! » vine. The « Mmmm watcha say » song plays at least once.

#murderbot tv show #lets be honest I hear the Rebecca vine every time MB says its watching sanctuary moon #and I imagine the theme song is the one from Les Feux de l’Amour

[rosewind2007]

Talking about The Murderbot Diaries TV adaptation and the books with a wiser person than me and they said it would be lovely if the fandom/s could be like the How To Train Your Dragon fandom/s

There are books, there’s a TV series and there are films

People can be fans of any and/or all of the above

The books and the TV show/films are completely different

The fans appear to be mutually respectful of the different iterations and are happy that others enjoy the series

They don’t seem to have a culture where one iteration is regarded as “the right one”

I realise there are probably pockets of dissent in the How To Train Your Dragon fandom/s, but I’m glad they are there as an example of how it can be done…

#murderbot #the murderbot diaries #murderbot diaries #Murderbot diaries tv series #murderbot tv show #how to train your dragon #how to train your dragon books #how to train your dragon film #httyd

[squiddlysquoo]

Just heard the news about the Murderbot tv show. I suppose the books will always be there !

#Murderbot #murderbot tv show #like not the throw up or anything but some white dude buying the rights and casting himself as the star. get fucked #at least I can stop worrying about it now. solidly fallen on the ‘it’s gonna suck shit’ side of things #I’ll probably pirate it to see what the fuck they did when it comes out but tbh. kind of fine with it. passed thru all stages of grief at on #at once #I guess we’ll see if this dude is willing to go by it/its pronouns and be normal about it or if we r gonna get a wonderful he/ham situation #n guess we will see if the other queer stuff gets to stay in. was kind of psyched to see super normalised polyamory and queerplatonic stuff #in tv #but yknow. we will see if it makes it to the screen lmao #that persons cis woman ART casting horror theory looking more and more likely by the day