Latest news with #AlexanderSkarsgard
Yahoo
18 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Is Taylor Swift's "Wildest Dreams" About Alexander Skarsgård? He Says…
Originally appeared on E! Online Alexander Skarsgård is tall and, some would say, handsome as hell. But does that mean he's the unnamed person hidden within Taylor Swift's song 'Wildest Dreams?' While many Swifties have thought so for years—based on the pair's time working together on The Giver—it wasn't until recently that Alexander finally faced the rumors head on. After Armchair Expert podcast host Dax Shepard joked that he's told his and Kristen Bell's daughters for years that the song is about him, only to discover in his preparation for the episode that Alexander has been named as the mystery tall man, the Big Little Lies alum laughed and smiled blithely. Dax joked that now he'd 'have to kill' Alexander, he then asked him, 'Do you have the same fear to either acknowledge or deny that that could be true, because the power of the Swifties is so strong that you don't even want to talk about it?' To which the Murderbot actor laughed and admitted, 'Yeah.' But while Alexander neither officially confirmed nor denied the longstanding rumors, he did lean into the bit. More from E! Online Ozzy Osbourne, Rock Legend, Dead at 76 Malcolm-Jamal Warner's Official Cause of Death Revealed Rosie Roche, Cousin of Prince Harry and Prince William, Dead at 20 'Well, I'm gonna be honest,' he said. 'I wrote the lyrics to that song and sent it to Taylor.' One of which is, 'He's so bad, but he does it so well,' which Dax deemed 'the line' of the song. After all, as Alexander agreed, 'A lot of people can be bad, but can you do it well? You cannot do it well.' The exchange between the actors is reminiscent of conversations that have long surrounded Taylor's discography. After all, the Grammy winner has been known to base some of her music on real figures or events in her life—prompting an eternal mission for Swifties to match the celebrity to their song. Over the years, some of the celebrities that have become attached to Taylor's music include Jake Gyllenhaal ('All Too Well'), Joe Jonas ('Forever and Always'), Taylor Lautner ('Back to December'), and, of course, both her most recent ex Joe Alwyn and her current boyfriend Travis Kelce. In fact, Taylor's most recent album The Tortured Poets Department featured a number of songs believed to be written about Matty, Joe and Travis. For an in-depth look at the many allusions to her relationships—past and present—in the 2024 album, keep reading. For the latest breaking news updates, click here to download the E! News App Solve the daily Crossword
Yahoo
12-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
‘Murderbot' Renewed For Season 2 At Apple TV+ Ahead Of Season 1 Finale
Murderbot has willed its way to a Season 2 on Apple TV+. The renewal news on Thursday comes ahead of the conclusion of the first season, which debuts on Friday. More from Deadline 2025 TV Series Renewals: Photo Gallery 'Virgin River' Gets Early Season 8 Renewal, Becomes Netflix's Longest-Running Scripted Series 'Slow Horses' Renewed For Season 7 At Apple TV+ Based on the first novella in Martha Wells' 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, played by Alexander Skarsgård. In Season 1, 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. In addition to starring in the series, Skarsgård also serves as an executive producer. Murderbot is created by Chris and Paul Weitz, who are also the showrunners. 'We're so grateful for the response that Murderbot has received, and delighted that we're getting to go back to Martha Wells' world to work with Alexander, Apple, CBS Studios and the rest of the team,' Chris and Paul Weitz, said in a statement Thursday. Added Matt Cherniss, head of programming, Apple TV+: 'Chris, Paul, Alexander and the entire Murderbot team have delivered a brilliantly original, addictive, witty and vibrant adaptation that has captured the imagination of audiences everywhere. We can't wait to unveil what's next for Murderbot and, of course, 'Sanctuary Moon' in season two.' In addition to Skarsgård, the Season 1 ensemble cast includes Noma Dumezweni, David Dastmalchian, Sabrina Wu, Akshay Khanna, Tattiawna Jones and Tamara Podemski. Murderbot hails from CBS Studios. The Weitz brothers write, direct and executive produce under their Depth of Field banner. Andrew Miano also executive produces for Depth of Field. David S. Goyer executive produces alongside Keith Levine for Phantom Four. Wells serves as consulting producer. Best of Deadline 'The Buccaneers' Season 2 Release Schedule: When Do New Episodes Come Out? 'The Buccaneers' Season 2 Soundtrack: From Griff To Sabrina Carpenter 2025 TV Series Renewals: Photo Gallery
New York Times
11-07-2025
- Entertainment
- New York Times
Was Murderbot Smiling in the Finale? Only the Creators Know for Sure.
This interview includes spoilers for the Season 1 finale of 'Murderbot.' On the surface, Chris and Paul Weitz were in unfamiliar territory when they set about creating 'Murderbot,' the darkly comic Apple TV+ series, which just wrapped its first season on Friday. After all, they hadn't adapted a science-fiction story together before. But as the Weitz brothers noted in a joint video call last month, the cynical, soap-opera-obsessed cyborg at that show's center (Alexander Skarsgard) isn't entirely dissimilar from the carefree, selfish cad played by Hugh Grant in their 2002 film 'About a Boy,' which they directed and co-wrote (with Peter Hedges). Like that man, the cyborg of 'Murderbot' is inconvenienced by some of the messier aspects of human existence — particularly emotions. And like him, it must learn to resemble a responsible, loving human being. 'Hugh Grant's character was essentially self-medicating with television and didn't really want to deal with people, and was kind of forced to by a hippie mom and her son,' Chris said. The title character — Murderbot is a name the cyborg privately gives itself — finds itself in a similar dynamic after it is hired to protect a motley group of scientists on an expedition to survey a distant planet. 'I think there's a theme in both our work of people who aren't actually equipped to provide emotional support for other people but who nonetheless figure out a way to do so,' Paul said — even if, strictly speaking, the cyborg's pronouns are it/its. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
Gizmodo
11-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Gizmodo
The ‘Murderbot' Finale Was Note-Perfect
Murderbot wrapped up its season today, bringing the Apple TV+ adaptation of Martha Wells' first Murderbot Diaries story, All Systems Red, to a close. If you've read the 2017 novella, you know the show stayed true to Wells' ending—perfectly setting up that just-announced season two, something creators Chris and Paul Weitz told io9 they've had in mind all 10, 'The Perimeter,' is unlike earlier episodes in that it doesn't immediately pick up right where we left off. A little bit of time has passed. The team from Preservation Alliance has returned to the Corporation Rim, having barely survived their adventure, and it's all thanks to SecUnit, aka Murderbot (Alexander Skarsgård). As a result, they've grown quite attached to it. Considering when we last saw Murderbot, it was having a 'catastrophic failure' after all those heroics, it's a relief when we see it being resurrected by a couple of sarcastic maintenance techs. While PresAux, led by a determined Dr. Mensah (Noma Dumezwani), presses the Company for their SecUnit's whereabouts, it's revealed to us that at that very moment it's having its memory wiped and system updated. A factory reset means it's duty-bound to take orders from humans again, but even worse, it doesn't remember any of the people who are so desperate to reconnect with it. The Company might not think of it as a person, but PresAux has long since realized Murderbot's value beyond simply being a piece of equipment. After some finagling, including the threat of a lawsuit over that whole 'you sent another team to the same planet as us, and they tried to massacre everyone' situation that unfolded across the season, the Company agrees to sell SecUnit to PresAux. The good guys snag their metal-and-organic buddy from being acid-vatted at the very last moment, and a happy reunion ensues. There's just one big problem: Murderbot has no idea who they are. A solution comes from the most unlikely of places, or it would have been unlikely at the start of the season. PresAux team member Dr. Gurathin (David Dastmalchian) was initially very suspicious of Murderbot, but we learned along the way that he has good reason to distrust anything originating from the Company. Before he met Dr. Mensah, he was a corporate spy kept loyal by a drug addiction his former employers created and maintained. It took almost all 10 episodes, but seeing Murderbot in action, especially the part where it sacrificed itself to protect Mensah, convinced Gurathin that SecUnit is indeed 'a person.' And he's uniquely qualified to return the favor: as an augmented human, he can self-download the memories the Company removed from Murderbot's artificial brain. He's able to access them by calling in a favor from a Company doctor who feels guilt over his role in facilitating Gurathin's drug abuse. (Guarathin is also clever enough to root out the encrypted data by searching The Rise and Fall of Sanctuary Moon, since he knows thousands of episodes of Murderbot's favorite sci-fi soap opera would be part of the data purge). But even with its memories restored, Murderbot has changed. This could be due to some pieces of code going missing as part of the process, as Gurathin warned might happen. But there's a greater sense that the robot has somehow evolved as a result of its experiences. 'I don't understand what's happening,' it tells Mensah and the rest of the team, with a vacant, almost frightened look on its face. PresAux has bought out its contract, but they don't want it to resume its old role. As we've seen quite clearly when the Company tried to deploy it as riot control, it's no longer comfortable in its old role, which was more or less blasting organic targets on command. At home on Preservation Alliance, Mensah says with a hopeful smile, she'll be its guardian, but it won't have to serve anyone. It won't need its armor or guns. It'll be a free agent, literally free to 'do anything you want to do.' It's no longer SecUnit. It's just… Unit. Murderbot takes this in. Freedom is the ideal outcome, of course, but this isn't the kind of freedom it seeks. Gurathin catches it as it's slipping away, and though he'd be happy for Murderbot to come back to Preservation Alliance with him—the people there are weird, he admits, but they're also the best people he's ever known—he understands when Murderbot rattles off an oft-repeated phrase: 'I need to check the perimeter.' Though he'd griped at all the perimeter checks when they were on that far-flung planet together, Gurathin gets it now. 'The perimeter' is what lies beyond the PresAux embrace, which is kind but also a bit suffocating. Murderbot's future choices need to be the first ones it has ever made truly for itself. While snagging a ride on a transport to a distant mining facility—a bargain helped along by promising to share its library of 'premium quality entertainment' with the bot running the ship—Murderbot steals an unattended bag and disguises itself as just another augmented human. 'I don't know what I want. But I know I don't want anyone to tell me what I want or to make decisions for me… even if they are my favorite human,' it informs us in voice-over. We see a quick glimpse of Mensah realizing what has happened and reacting in a very Mensah way, by nodding understandingly through her tears. As Murderbot heads to adventures unknown, we see a tiny smile emerge: 'Murderbot—end message.' As book fans know, the second entry in Wells' series, Artificial Condition, digs into a disturbing flashback Murderbot can't shake, even with the multiple memory wipes it's had by now: the fact that it murdered its entire human team on its mission prior to joining PresAux. (Hence that self-given nickname.) It's the single biggest story thread left dangling from Murderbot season one (why did Murderbot snap, exactly? And why did the Company keep it in service after?) and it makes for a very juicy launching pad into season two. Plus, there are thousands and thousands more Sanctuary Moon plots left to explore! Stars, Captain! You can watch all of Murderbot season one on Apple TV+. Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what's next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.
UPI
11-07-2025
- Entertainment
- UPI
Apple TV+ renews Alexander Skarsgard's 'Murderbot' for Season 2
Alexander Skarsgard is returning for a second season of "Murderbot" on APple TV+. File Photo by Jim Ruymen/UPI | License Photo July 11 (UPI) -- Apple TV+ has renewed its sci-fi dramedy, Murderbot, for a second season. "We're so grateful for the response that Murderbot has received, and delighted that we're getting to go back to Martha Wells' world to work with Alexander, Apple, CBS Studios and the rest of the team," creators and executive producers Chris and Paul Weitz said in a statement Thursday. The adaptation of Martha Wells' novella stars Alexander Skarsgard, Noma Dumezweni, David Dastmalchian, Sabrina Wu, Akshay Khanna, Tattiawna Jones and Tamara Podemski. The story kicks off when Murderbot -- a partly organic, security unit cyborg (Skarsgard) -- finds a way to override its "obey" function and think for itself as it is assigned to guard a group of free-spirited scientists led by Gurathin (David Dastmalchian) and Mensah (Noma Dumezweni). Season 1 wraps up on Friday. Murderbot will return for season 2, whether it likes it or not.#Murderbot - Now Streaming Apple TV (@AppleTV) July 10, 2025
