Composer Amanda Jones describes how “Murderbot” became a “70s retro” synth playground—building pitches, weird frequencies, and strategic silence around Alexander Skarsgård’s offbeat performance, while the show’s editors later shaped the CG intro animation to h
When “Murderbot” comes on screen, you don’t just hear a soundtrack—you feel it. The series, based on Martha Wells’ sci-fi novels, carries a distinctive, synth-heavy score that leans into retro electronics. Composer Amanda Jones has said the music started as a long experiment and turned into something playful. even a little strange.
“It was a long incubation period of playing with synthy, electronic ideas, or like ’70s retro ideas,” Jones said during IndieWire’s Craft Roundtables. “It was really playful and a lot of fun.”
At the roundtable. Jones joined other composers from major recent shows to talk about how they matched music to what was happening onscreen. Jeff Russo discussed “Alien Earth.” Brenton Vivian covered “The Madison.” Kris Bowers and Michael Dean Parsons spoke about “Spider-Noir.” Mac Quayle talked about “Monster: The Ed Gein Story. ” and John Paesano joined for “The Boroughs.”.
For Jones, one key performance shaped the score as it was being built: Alexander Skarsgård’s central turn as the titular murderbot. She said his “extraordinary” performance pushed her to preserve space for that power instead of filling every gap with sound.
“Skarsgård’s performance was extraordinary and you want to leave space for powerful performance,” Jones said. “So, playing with a lot of singular ideas. Pitches, weird frequencies, and silence. Just giving him that space to be awkward and strange.”
That choice—letting awkwardness breathe—also connected to how the music was made during production. Jones explained that she composed most of the show’s music as filming was underway. and that editors eventually began cutting and editing the series to her music rather than locking the music to finished picture first. The process even affected the show’s CG intro sequence.
“The main title was animated to what I had written, which was pretty cool,” Jones said. She added that the CG intro sequence was animated to her score, “rather than having her score it to the animation.”
For the show’s sound, the timeline mattered: Jones’s retro synth exploration started as an extended “incubation period,” then grew into a score built around Skarsgård’s performance choices, with editing later aligning the on-screen pacing to her music.
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Murderbot Apple TV Amanda Jones Martha Wells Alexander Skarsgård synth score retro electronic IndieWire Craft Roundtables TV Craft Roundtables Jeff Russo Brenton Vivian Kris Bowers Michael Dean Parsons Mac Quayle John Paesano