Apple TV's Murderbot Episodes Are Short For A Perfectly Logical Reason

The Apple TV series "Murderbot" is easily one of the most fun science fiction shows out there, but there's just one tiny problem: the 23-minute long episodes seem to be over before you know it. While most other action or drama shows tend to be close to an hour and can sometimes feel like they're dragging on a bit, "Murderbot" moves along at a surprisingly quick clip. Sometimes it's refreshing, and sometimes it's a little frustrating because the episodes are so great that you just want more, but what gives, anyway?

In an interview with Collider, series co-creators and brothers Paul and Chris Weitz revealed that the episodes are so short because the Martha Wells novella, the first season is based on, "All Systems Red," was only 140 pages. Instead of putting in filler or making it a miniseries, they simply decided to make shorter episodes. That's the kind of logical thinking Murderbot (Alexander Skarsgård) would be proud of, because it not only keeps things expedient, but it keeps audiences wanting more. Since "Murderbot" is one of the best things the actor has ever done (and Skarsgård has been a part of some truly great movies and TV shows), seeing the end credits start to roll can feel pretty brutal.

In the interview, Paul Weitz explained that the shorter episodes were "purposeful" because with an hour-long show, they would have been forced to do "padding" since there just wasn't a wealth of source material to draw from. Not only that, but Chris Weitz explained that they were drawing from serials a bit for the pacing of the series: 

"It's a serial, a bit of the kind that Murderbot would watch in a way. It was nice to kind of string things out a bit more rather than just being a miniseries in that sense. I feel like there are a lot of shows where people sit in conference rooms and discuss what just happened in the last scene and argue about it, and we didn't want those scenes. So, it felt as though if we kept it more in a sort of half-hour length, but spread it out, it'd be like an album. [...] We liked the idea of it being like a series of good pop songs."

One thing that works so well is that "Murderbot" allows Skarsgård to be really weird, obsessing over serials like "The Rise and Fall of Sanctuary Moon" instead of doing his job and staring at the wall when he gets overwhelmed. (Honestly, Murderbot, same.) It's great to discover that the show's short episodes are intended to feel sort of like old sci-fi serials, too, making Murderbot's love of "Sanctuary Moon" even more of a meta-commentary. 

Aside from occasionally leaving you on a cliffhanger (which is very old-school serial — just think of "Flash Gordon" or "Buck Rogers in the 25th Century"), the only real problem with the short "Murderbot" episodes is that we don't get to spend more time with the Preservation Alliance team that Murderbot is tasked with protecting. Paul Weitz pointed out that each character was "so distinct" that "any line that a character has, you know it came from that character," making each of them extremely lovable in their own way. Yes, even the grumpy Gurathin, played to perfection by David Dastmalchian. 

Because Murderbot ends up with a different crew after "All Systems Red," we won't be seeing too much more of the PresAux nerds, which might be the biggest challenge season 2 of "Murderbot" faces. After all, without people we care about for Murderbot to protect, there really isn't much of a show. I know the Weitzes want to avoid filler, but maybe we can have just a little bit of the PresAux team popping up in season 2, as a treat?