Alexander Skarsgård unpacks emotional “Murderbot ”finale scene that nearly made him cry: 'I'm a goddamn android!'

Key Points

Alexander Skarsgård unpacks Murderbot's shocking decision.

The series star and executive producer admits he struggled not to cry during a key confrontation.

Murderbot has been renewed for a second season, Apple TV+ announced Thursday.

This article contains spoilers for the season 1 finale of Murderbot, "The Perimeter."

After a tumultuous stay in the corporation rim, Murderbot (Alexander Skarsgård) is alive… and free.

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Thanks to the PreservationAux crew (aka the galaxy's best clients), Murderbot has dodged the feared acid bath, regained its memories, and been removed from the Company's inventory list. There's just one problem — Gurathin (David Dastmalchian) forgot to download several episodes of The Rise and Fall of Sanctuary Moon!

Oh, and then there's the matter of Murderbot's identity crisis: a fair place for the bot to be after sacrificing its life for a group of humans that it met mere days ago.

Apple TV+

Alexander Skarsgård in 'Murderbot'

To put it lightly, the Murderbot season 1 finale was an emotional rollercoaster. After having its memories stripped away and its governor module reactivated, things were looking pretty dire for the soap-opera loving android. But even after all that tampering from the Company, the SecUnit couldn't quite fall back in line — and soon became the target of an angry mob. As if that turmoil wasn't enough, the Company resolved to melt the bot down — the very fate that Murderbot has feared since the start of the series.

But what Murderbot did not account for was the power of friendship: the PreservationAux crew stopped at nothing to save their android, with Dr. Mensah (Noma Dumezweni) and her team of scientists eventually striking up a deal with the Company to buy out Murderbot's contract. Meanwhile, Gurathin secured the memories, putting his mind at risk to download all of the SecUnit's memories — sans a few space opera episodes — and transfer them over.

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It was all leading up to a happily-ever-after: Mensah announced her plans to become Murderbot's guardian! Ratthi (Akshay Khanna) started planning hangout sessions! The entire crew celebrated the chance to welcome Murderbot into their homes! But the SecUnit couldn't go through with it.

In the end, Murderbot opted to check the perimeter one last time, leading to an emotional confrontation with Gurathin, who ultimately stepped aside to let the newly freed android finally make its own decisions.

Below, Entertainment Weekly speaks with Skarsgård about the emotional season 1 finale — and what will come next for Murderbot and its favorite clients (the series was renewed for a second season Thursday).

Apple TV+

Alexander Skarsgård in 'Murderbot'

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: So, the acid bath scene. What's going through Murderot's head at that moment?

ALEXANDER SKARSGÅRD: In that scene, I pictured myself as cattle on my way to the slaughterhouse. I think a cow would have an elevated level of stress in a situation like that, but I didn't want to be filled with anxiety or distance because Murderbot has been deprogrammed — the memory has been wiped. I fortunately haven't been to the slaughterhouse, but I can imagine that it's a very elevated level of stress there from the animals. And this was not even confusion, it's just like a... blank. It does what it's told to do.

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We also thought that would have more of an impact on the audience. Murderbot [feels] vulnerable there and just an innocent kid, in a way. It just doesn't resist. It's not fighting back. It just does what it's been programmed to do and what it's been told to do.

It's especially hard to watch because this is our Murderbot, but wiped, without its memories.

Exactly. Once you remove all memories and personal traits and characteristics, then what's left? Then you have this kind of shell of an android. They say, in that scene where Ratthi also tries to connect with Murderbot: "It's like it was Murderbot, but it also wasn't in there." So that's kind of the way we approached that scene.

apple TV+

David Dastmalchian in 'Murderbot'

Can you talk about that last conversation with Gurathin? I didn't expect such an emotional moment between them.

I probably can't talk about it without crying because it really was an emotional moment. It was the last scene we shot together, and so it was the end of six months together in Toronto, and it really was the most beautiful group of people that I've worked with and one of the most special experiences of my career, to say goodbye on camera, but also off camera in a way.

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It was the last scene, and then we were all going off to our different places around the world. It was emotional and it was hard to not cry. I wanted Murderbot to feel something in the scene, but I also didn't want to. I'm a goddamn Android, I don't want to cry! In that moment, that would've been out of character. You often hear actors like pushing, trying to cry on camera — this was definitely the opposite, where it just felt like it was just bubbling up and I was really fighting to hold it back, because I definitely felt that moment.

Especially when David [Dastmalchian] is opposite you crying.

Yeah. I love him and I'm so happy that we got to end it with that scene. It felt like a proper goodbye between two characters, but also two actors in a way. And we kind of worked a bit on the dialogue there.

In some previous drafts, Murderbot was a bit more verbal and explained a bit more about what it was doing and why. But I love the idea of, throughout, the whole notion of "Check the perimeter" has been such a thing away for it to get away from the group. And I thought it'd be interesting to kind of end it with the simplicity of that, but this time it really means something else, and it is something that Murderbot has to do.

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And for Gurathin, who's been going after Murderbot during this whole journey and calling Murderbot out on like, "Oh, check the perimeter? I see what you're doing" to focus the scene around that. "I am going to check the perimeter" and Gurathin going, "Yeah, you go check the perimeter." I thought that was a beautiful way to end that relationship… For now.

Apple TV+

Tamara Podemski, David Dastmalchian, Noma Dumezweni, Alexander Skarsgard, Akshay Khanna and Tattiawna Jones in 'Murderbot'

Is that Gurathin supporting Murderbot in making this decision?

To me it felt like Gurathin understands that this is something Murderbot has to do, and Murderbot feels so strongly about all these people, but Murderbot has to find its own way, and this is not the right path forward. Even though it cares deeply about these humans, it doesn't want them to tell Murderbot, "This is what's going to happen" or "Now you're going to come with us" and "Then you're going to do this and that." The robot needs to, for the first time, stop procrastinating and actually go on an adventure and figure out who it is.

It's hard to tell if Murderbot has come to a place of acceptance about having feelings. Where do you feel like it is on that journey?

I think it's conflicted leaving the group, but I also think there's a level of excitement about the upcoming adventure that it's going to go on. And for the first time throughout the first season, Murderbot has to react to stuff that happens. It doesn't have that much agency, really. It's about first trying to avoid reacting and then being forced to step in to save these naive humans. I have to kind of react to what happens and what GrayCris are doing in order to save the group and get off the planet. But Murderbot, at the end of the season, is going into the unknown with some agency. [We're] not necessarily sure where that's going to take Murderbot, but at least it is in the driver's seat.

Apple TV+

Alexander Skarsgård in 'Murderbot'

Well.. I know where it's going to take Murderbot. I've read the book.

[Laughs] There's some potential for that, obviously with ART in the second book, which is an interesting relationship. But also… we'll see what happens.

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I remember when we did True Blood, we started out, the first book was very faithful to the first novel and then as the show progressed, we kind of went in a slightly different direction, which I think is kind of important. You've got to do that on a show. You set the tone, set the characters, and then, because some things will work better on paper as a novel than on a television show and vice versa. So then you've got to be open to that.

I remember the character of Lafayette gets killed off at the end of the first book. But then Nelson Ellis, who played Lafayette, was just the most charismatic, extraordinary character. And so everyone was like, "There's no f---ing way we can kill him off." Of course. So it changes and you've got to be kind of open to that. So we'll see where Murderbot ends up.

And a lot of those core characters we have in the first Murderbot book aren't in the second one, but now we have all these great relationships. Why wouldn't we want to spend more time with them?

Exactly. So if we get to that, that'll be a nut we need to crack and figure out what the next adventure would be. But it could be exciting.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

The first season of Murderbot is now streaming on AppleTV+.

Read the original article on Entertainment Weekly