Michael Sheen joins star-studded cast of Apple TV sci-fi comedy

Mark Mansfield

Welsh star Michael Sheen is joining the cast of Apple TV sci-fi comedy Murderbot for its second season.

The Port Talbot-born actor is among 25 new recurring and guest stars announced for the Emmy-nominated series, alongside Steve Buscemi, Wanda Sykes and Patton Oswalt.

Other additions include Martha Plimpton, Bridget Everett, Tramell Tillman, Blair Underwood, Topher Grace, Nicholas Braun, Brendan Hunt and Katy O’Brian.

They will join returning star and executive producer Alexander Skarsgård, who plays the title character.

Murderbot, based on Martha Wells’ bestselling Murderbot Diaries books, follows a self-aware security cyborg that has secretly hacked its own programming and gained free will.

Despite being designed to protect humans, Murderbot is horrified by human emotion and would much rather spend its time watching futuristic soap operas.

The first season saw the character attempting to conceal its autonomy while carrying out a dangerous assignment and protecting a group of human clients.

The series made its debut in May 2025 and was subsequently renewed for a second season, which has now officially gone into production.

Sheen’s role has not yet been revealed, while details of the storyline for the new series are also being kept under wraps.

Oh, great. Even more stupid humans.

Your first look at the cast of #Murderbot Season 2. pic.twitter.com/DQhyNqzUBr

— Apple TV (@AppleTV) August 19, 2026

The role continues something of a sci-fi streak for Sheen, who is also appearing in the Welsh-set UFO comedy Out There.

The film follows rebellious 16-year-old Maz, who lives in a small Welsh seaside town and becomes convinced that a mysterious UFO sighting could hold the key to her father’s disappearance.

Sheen plays local psychic Shifty Gruff alongside a cast including Welsh actors Aneurin Barnard and Iwan Rheon, Alice Lowe and newcomers Nerys Amber Stocks and Tom Moya.

The subject has a personal resonance for Sheen, who recently recalled seeing a mysterious formation of lights in the sky over Port Talbot when he was 12 or 13.

He said the lights appeared from around the side of a mountain before heading out towards the sea, where they hovered and then disappeared.

Sheen has stopped short of claiming what he saw was extraterrestrial, saying he could not explain the sighting, but has jokingly described his hometown as the Welsh “Area 51” because of its history of reported UFO encounters.

Out There, the debut feature from writer-director Simon Ryninks, received its world premiere at the Edinburgh International Film Festival.

Well received

Returning Murderbot cast members include Noma Dumezweni, David Dastmalchian, Sabrina Wu, Akshay Khanna, Tattiawna Jones and Tamara Podemski.

Clark Gregg, John Cho, DeWanda Wise and Jack McBrayer will also return as recurring guest stars.

The first series was well received by critics, earning a 95% critics’ score on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes.

No release date has yet been announced for the second season.

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