Murderbot’s refurbished state is played up a bit more, to make it more sympathetic and more distinct from the other SecUnits it encounters. It doesn’t have any personal drones attached to it, and it points out how others are superior models. The humans are a bit more fleshed out and distinct and you really learn to love all of them, whereas in the first book they were all kind of just in the background and Murderbot doesn’t really pay super close attention to them. Gurathin is a bitchy emo-looking type with black fingernail polish, Pin-Yee is explicitly non-binary and referred to by they-them pronouns (don’t recall if this is how they were in the books but I think so?), Arada is passionate and artsy, Ratthi is a lovable goofball, and Mensah is just as compassionate and admirable a character as in the books, if a bit more put-upon by all the stress she’s under. Murderbot’s voiceover makes for a lot of funny moments as well.

Supposedly the next episode will feature a DeltFall survivor, another change from the books. If I had to guess I’d say they were condensing characters in future books to tie them more directly to the established ones, because it doesn’t make much sense to hire a big ensemble cast and then have like 90% of them fuck off entirely for two or three seasons (if they follow one season per book). This way they have someone to represent the Corporate Rim bottom rung worker perspective that’s important while Murderbot goes off on his solo adventures in the books.

Excited to see what they do with ART/Perihelion.