Is Murderbot based on a book? Details explored 

Apple TV+'s sci-fi thriller comedy, Murderbot, just premiered with its first two episodes on May 16, 2025, and the exploration of a security robot's free will is extremely refreshing. The refreshing concept leads to questions about its origin, and to answer these questions, the Apple TV+ series is based on a series of books by American writer Martha Wells.

The Alexander Skarsgård-led series' synopsis reads as such:

"Based on Martha Wells’ bestselling Hugo and Nebula Award-winning book series, “Murderbot” is a sci-fi thriller/comedy about a self-hacking security construct who is horrified by human emotion yet drawn to its vulnerable clients. Murderbot must hide its free will and complete a dangerous assignment when all it really wants is to be left alone to watch futuristic soap operas and figure out its place in the universe."

Here's everything we know about the Martha Wells novels that the show is adapted from.

Apple TV+'s Murderbot adapted from Martha Wells' The Murderbot Diaries

The Apple TV sci-fi thriller is adapted from the award-winning book series by the American author Martha Wells. The Murderbot Diaries has seven books, two novellas, and a few short series in its collection that have been released from 2017 to 2023.

Even though the title of the books, as well as the Apple TV+ show, sounds pretty dramatic, the show is about an introverted security robot who has taken over his system, now has free will, and would very much like to spend his time watching soap operas rather than killing anybody, as he himself says in the novels:

"As a heartless killing machine, I was a terrible failure"

Martha Wells, a well-established writer in the fantasy genre, published the first book in The Murderbot Diaries in 2017, a short-form novel, titled All Systems Red. After that, multiple similar novels were published until the first full-length novel in 2020, titled Network Effect, was published.

Here are all of the books in The Murderbot Diaries by Martha Wells in order:

When it comes to the Apple TV+ show, it is based on the first novel titled All Systems Red by Martha Wells, which was published in 2017. The show revolves around the security robot that has hacked its programming and now has free will. But in a complete 360 from the title and the expectations that come with it, the robot, who has jokingly named itself Murderbot, doesn't want to fight humans or overthrow them; it just wants to stay in peace, do its job, and binge-watch soap operas and TV serials, as it says in the trailer for the Apple TV+ show.

"I was built to protect and obey humans. And humans… are idiots. But now that I’ve hacked my programming, I can do whatever I want… as long as they don’t find out,"

But as the story progresses, and the bot is forced to understand the humans around them and their role in the capitalist society, it has a better understanding of humanity. Martha Wells has been the recipient of four Hugo Awards, three Locus Awards, and two Nebula Awards for her work in The Murderbot Diaries.

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