Comparing Murderbot TV Series to the Book
I first learnt of The Murderbot Diaries by Martha Wells after I watched the first episode of the Murderbot series. In the space between waiting for a new episode I decided to read the source material the series was based on… All Systems Red by Martha Wells.
The TV adaptation kept close to the source material, although there were some variations in the plot and characters, which meant that even fans of the book series would not be able to predict how things turned out.
Fair Warning: This post may contain spoilers if you havent watched or read Muderbot.
All Systems Red
A murderous robot, Murderbot discovers itself and wants to be left alone, long enough to figure what that entails but contracts gotta fulfilled in a setting where capitalism takes no prisoners…
The Murderbot Diaries Similarities To The TV Series
- Core plot, characters and tone are largely preserved, with the key beats Murderbot hacking its governor, mystery with GrayCris, survival arc remaining intact
- Murderbot’s internal narration and deadpan humour are brought to life in voiceovers and visual cues.
Murderbot TV Series Differences To All Systems Red Book
- Cast: Two characters from the book (Overse and Volescu) were removed, and their traits folded into others like Arada/Gurathin/Pin‑Lee
- New character addition: Leebeebee (Anna Konkle) is absent in the book and all her appearances are a plot expansion to the GrayCris crisis.
- Backstories and Character Development: The team gets more individual arcs:
-Gurathin as a drug addict and former Corporate agent.
-Mensah's panic attacks and leadership vulnerabilities.
-Polyamoury dynamics between crew's Arada, Pin-Lee, and Ratthi
-The Rise And Fall Of Sanctuary Moon gets more attention in the TV series with snippets and opening theme featuring in some episodes of Murderbot
-In the books the reveal of Murderbot’s governor module hack is a gradual process while in the series its established at the start of the first episode of the season.
-The season finale which has a significantly longer run time than the other episodes and covers territory which is not in the books.
In All Systems Red, Murderbot wakes up functional but governor module still hacked and without too much wrapup drama learns its off inventory and sets out to make its own decisions…
-Muderbot’s memory erasure and governor module re-upload and deployment to a task which proves triggering of its previous massacre and Gurathin’s side-quest to retrieve the memories, as well as the race to get an injunction, befoe Murderbot is destroyed are all expanded materials which allow an appreciation for Gurathin’s growth as well as the team’s story arcs in accepting Murderbot’s autonomy.
“You need to check the Perimeter”
Sidenote: While the series finale focused greatly on Muderbot getting its memories erased, it glossed over the details on what became of the governor module afterwards, which might be an accidental or intentional detail omission depending on the direction the plot goes in season 2 which would be an adaptation of Artificial Condition.
Final Thoughts
The TV adaptation remains very faithful to All Systems Red‘s spirit and core plot, but expands, paces, and dramatises many elements.
Becoming The Muse 
Your thoughts.. if you will?