Warning! This article contains SPOILERS for Murderbot season 1, episode 2 & The Murderbot Diaries: All Systems Red.Apple TV+'s Murderbot has a 98% score on Rotten Tomatoes at the time of writing, and it could easily continue Apple TV+'s streak of making highly successful sci-fi shows. Murderbot is also one of Apple TV+'s most unique shows, and not just because of the socially awkward Murderbot (Alexander Skarsgård).

Murderbot's success might not be surprising given that it's based on Hugo and Nebula Award-winning books, but that doesn't always guarantee quality. There are plenty of ending of Murderbot episode 2, the show had barely changed anything from the books.

Murderbot Episodes 1 & 2 Are An Almost Direct Adaptation Of The First Sci-Fi Book

Aside From A Few Changes, Murderbot Season 1 Is Very Close To The Events Of All Systems Red

Unlike other sci-fi adaptations, Murderbot is staying remarkably true to its source material. There are differences, of course. cast of Murderbot. Those are relatively small changes, however, and for the most part, Murderbot is an almost direct adaptation of All Systems Red. It did throw in a bit of foreshadowing to the second book, Artificial Condition, but Murderbot episodes 1 and 2 have really focused on staying true to Martha Wells' original story.

Possibly the biggest example of how Murderbot is a faithful adaptation is Murderbot itself. Murderbot's internal narration is a huge part of The Murderbot Diaries, and the Murderbot show has already nailed it. Likewise, almost every major plot moment - from Murderbot saving Bharadwaj (Tamara Podemski) to Gurathin's (David Dastmalchian) suspicions of Murderbot - made it into the show. In fact, Murderbot actually hired Martha Wells, the original author, as a consulting producer for the show. Wells was directly involved with the adaptation, which almost certainly helped keep the show on track and convinced the showrunners to keep elements that other adaptations would have scrapped.

Murderbot's Strong Book Accuracy Avoids Losing Some Of The Best Parts Of The Original Story

Murderbot's Book Accuracy Means It Won't Repeat The Mistakes Of The Dark Tower Or Allegiant

Murderbot's accuracy in adapting All Systems Red not only avoided alienating readers who enjoyed the books, it actually made the show better. By being faithful to the books, Murderbot now gets to enjoy some of the best parts of Martha Wells' writing. We get to hear Murderbot's internal monologue and its frankly hilarious observations about humanity, the Company's various evil deeds, and we even get to see Murderbot be a great example of representation for non-binary characters. If Murderbot had changed more from the books, we might have missed out on some of the things that made The Murderbot Diaries so beloved and popular in the first place.

The Murderbot Diaries is an inherently strange (in a good way) story. Many of its best features - Murderbot's gender and its biting critiques of capitalism, for example - aren't mainstream concepts. In a different studio or showrunner's hands, Murderbot may have scrapped those elements to appeal to a broader audience. To a different showrunner, Murderbot may have seemed more appealing if SecUnit wasn't wildly socially awkward, for example. Paul and Chris Weitz, however, recognized that The Murderbot Diaries was popular precisely because it has so many weird ideas, and Murderbot is so much better for it.

Staying true to The Murderbot Diaries certainly helped Murderbot succeed, but even the few changes it did make have been great. Showing actual episodes of The Rise & Fall of Sanctuary Moon added a hilarious way to contrast Murderbot's corporate dystopia with the optimistic utopia of Star Trek. Cutting down the number of in PreservationAux has let each character get more screen time and development. Giving Mensah (Noma Dumezweni) panic attacks has deepened her character and made her leadership even more impressive. Somehow, Murderbot cracked the code to balance accuracy with adding in new flavor to a sci-fi adaptation.