Apple TV+'s sci-fi comedy series Murderbot premieres on May 16, with Vanity Fair today debuting some brand new images of star Alexander Skarsgård in action.

Based on Martha Wells' bestselling books The Murderbot Diaries, Murderbot is written and directed by Chris and Paul Weitz (American Pie, About a Boy), with Wells serving as executive producer alongside Andrew Miano for Depth of Field, David S. Goyer and Keith Levine for Phantom Four.

Joining Skarsgård in the series are Noma Dumezweni, David Dastmalchian, Sabrina Wu, Akshay Khanna, Tattiawna Jones, and Tamara Podemski.

Murderbot follows Skarsgård's genderless cyborg known as SecUnit, who has managed to free itself from the shackles of a futuristic megacorporation. >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.

Talking with Vanity Fair, Skarsgård (who's been seen most recently in Infinity Pool, Lee and What We Do in the Shadows) details more of his character who, frankly, sounds entirely relatable, robot or not:

“It just doesn’t get humans at all […] It’s not a deep hatred, it’s just zero amount of curiosity. It’s confused by humans and wants to get away from them.”

The Northman star also went on to compare his character in Murderbot to Eric Northman, the towering Swedish vampire who Skarsgård played for seven years of HBO's True Blood:

“They are observing humanity from a similar distance […] Eric used to be human, so in a way he can relate, even though it’s been a millennium. But he also finds them incredibly silly and petty and just…insignificant. Murderbot has organic components, so there are human components there. I think it can also understand or feel something. There’s something about being an outsider, and observing humanity from a slight distance, and being a bit confused and perplexed by it.”
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