Dan Stevens is stepping into one of sci-fi’s most recognisable suits, with the Downton Abbey and Legion actor set to play Alex Murphy — and his cybernetic alter ego RoboCop — in Amazon MGM Studios’ upcoming Prime Video series.
The eight-episode drama comes from showrunner Peter Ocko and Blumhouse Atomic Monster, and will revisit the character first played by Peter Weller in Paul Verhoeven’s 1987 cult classic.
The series follows a giant technology conglomerate that persuades a city to introduce a powerful robot to its police force. At its centre is Murphy, a beloved officer whose consciousness is implanted into the machine after he is killed in the line of duty.
Ocko writes and executive produces the series alongside James Wan, Michael Clear and Rob Hackett through Blumhouse Atomic Monster. Danielle Bozzone serves as co-executive producer, while original RoboCop writers Ed Neumeier and Michael Miner are also executive producers.
The new series will revisit some of the themes at the core of Verhoeven’s original film, including tech, identity and corporate power. The 1987 movie famously followed Murphy after he is brutally attacked and rebuilt by Omni Consumer Products as RoboCop, blending its violent sci-fi action with satire of privatised policing and corporate influence.
Part of what made Verhoeven’s RoboCop distinctive was the way it pulled together influences from across sci-fi, action and horror. Critics at the time drew comparisons with the hard-edged action of The Terminator and Aliens, while also citing echoes of Frankenstein, Repo Man and “Miami Vice.”
Weller returned for RoboCop 2 in 1990, while Robert Burke played the character in RoboCop 3 in 1993. Joel Kinnaman later took on the role for the 2014 reboot which, while receiving mixed reviews, was praised for retaining the key elements of political satire and philosophical musings that powered Verhoeven’s original.
Amazon MGM ordered the series last month following multiple years in development. RoboCop was among the first MGM properties earmarked for television development after Amazon acquired the studio in 2022.
The series does not yet have a release date.
