Murderbot Season 2 Rounds Out Its Cast With 25 New Names
Apple TV+'s Murderbot has unveiled a sprawling roster of 25 recurring actors and guest stars for its second season, which is currently filming, according to The Hollywood Reporter (THR, 19 August 2026).
The list spans comedy fixtures, character-actor veterans and rising names. Steve Buscemi, Michael Sheen, Topher Grace, Patton Oswalt, Wanda Sykes and Martha Plimpton are among the most recognisable faces joining the show. They are joined by Nicholas Braun, Bridget Everett, Brendan Hunt, Jason George, Katy O'Brian, Britne Oldford, Marc Menchaca, Kali Reis, Tramell Tillman, Blair Underwood, Damian Young, Ella Jay Basco, Etienne Beydon, Divian Ladwa, Jaedynn Latter, Griffin Newman, Meredith Salenger, Nia Otchere-Sarfo and Maddy Strauss.
Alexander Skarsgård stars as the title character — a security android that calls itself Murderbot and would rather watch soap operas than interact with the humans it is contracted to protect. The series is based on Martha Wells' award-winning book series The Murderbot Diaries.
Returning for Season 2 alongside Skarsgård are series regulars Noma Dumezweni, David Dastmalchian, Sabrina Wu, Akshay Khanna, Tattiawna Jones and Tamara Podemski. Recurring cast members Clark Gregg, John Cho, DeWanda Wise and Jack McBrayer are also back, per THR.
Apple TV+ ordered a second season in July 2025, just before the first season's finale aired — an early vote of confidence that meant writers and crew could keep working without waiting for viewership numbers to settle. That kind of pre-emptive renewal, meaning a show is picked up again before its current season finishes, has become common practice across streaming platforms for titles they want to hold onto.
Chris and Paul Weitz create, write and direct the series. The producing team includes Andrew Miano, Dan Balgoyen and Britta Rowings of Depth of Field, David S. Goyer and Keith Levine of Phantom Four, and Skarsgård himself as an executive producer. Martha Wells serves as a consulting producer, keeping the original author tied to the adaptation.
CBS Studios produces the series for Apple TV+.
For fans, the sheer size of the incoming cast suggests the world of Murderbot is expanding well beyond the first season's contained mission. Twenty-five new actors is a lot of new characters — and a lot of new humans for a socially reluctant android to avoid.
