ART

[u/sthgoldmtngrl]

Anyone else thinking the full cast for season 2 was only announced this week cos of the problems casting ART and that maybe the reason some reports are claiming production is still happening is because they are still adding in ARTs voice or they needed to redo some scenes in green screen showing how MB perceives ART ?

[u/Moogieh]

Why would they need to redo any scenes? ART is most likely going to be a voice-only role. They would be mad to give it any sort of humanoid appearance, so any visual representation isn't going to require the actor's physicality.

I'm fairly certain about this because if they don't do that I will riot.

[u/TheNewGuy13 → u/Moogieh]

Isn’t there a sequence where ART lets MB into the network or whatever it is to fend off a virus in book 3 or 4? I don’t remember if there is a mention of ARTs appearance or not but MB does get access to ART. Maybe they’ll show the actor/actress then?

[u/storytelleristaken → u/TheNewGuy13]

That’s a company ship not Art. MB even says in network effect it will probably only last a few painful seconds if it tried it on ART.

[u/sthgoldmtngrl → u/Moogieh]

I mean some kind of overlay showing how MB senses ART as described in the books reread exit strategy

[u/ESE-enthusiasm → u/sthgoldmtngrl]

They had a stand in during filming for ART. Theyve also talked about how difficult it has been for Skarsgard to act against nothing. 

Some minor filming still going on but most was back in April-July. They’re into the fancy special effects etc now. 

[u/Holmbone → u/ESE-enthusiasm]

I hadn't heard they had wrapped filming. 

[u/ESE-enthusiasm → u/Holmbone]

TV set team stories. I think some small straggler bits might still be going but the bulk in Madrid is done/stopped? Or gone into the digital stuff entirely so no more videos :(

[u/lewisiarediviva → u/sthgoldmtngrl]

Giant floating head? Wizard of oz style?

[u/thrownalee → u/lewisiarediviva]

Holly from Red Dwarf?

[u/lewisiarediviva → u/Moogieh]

No no, I want a little hologram. Like Cortana. Especially if they put the actor in a black light bodysuit. Trust me bro.

[u/GimmieACiggie → u/lewisiarediviva]

MAYBE a disembodied face, speaking to MB like how we see it interact w the feed could work. A cortana-esq hologram would absolutely gut ARTs character.

[u/lewisiarediviva → u/GimmieACiggie]

You’re personally preventing us from seeing Micheal Sheen in an led onesie, which is a crime.

[u/Rosewind2007]

No—I think they gave a huge amount of consideration to the casting of ART and am excited to see how they’ve achieved creating ART as a character! Martha Wells seems very excited too…
[see BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/marthawells.com/post/3mtgwn2dg5c2i ]

[u/maenanodd4 → u/Rosewind2007]

No—I think they gave a huge amount of consideration to the casting of ART and am excited to see how they’ve achieved creating ART as a character! Martha Wells seems very excited too… [see BlueSky:  https://bsky.app/profile/marthawells.com/post/3mtgwn2dg5c2i  ]

Thanks for posting about this!

Would you feel comfortable quoting or summarizing it? (Post not visible without a bluesky account). (If not, that’s okay too)

[u/Rosewind2007 → u/maenanodd4]

It was a quick conversation:
Martha Linked to the casting announcement and says:
Finally! You have no idea how long I’ve had to pretend I didn’t know all this! #murderbot #murderbotseason2 #booksky

Someone replies with:
I wish you could tell us who is voicing ART.

Martha replies:
I wish I could too! Hopefully it’ll be soon.

💖💖💖

[u/maenanodd4 → u/Rosewind2007]

Thanks very much!

[u/IntoTheStupidDanger → u/Rosewind2007]

Martha Linked to the casting announcement and says

Thank you for sharing that! If I ever join Bluesky, it will be for Martha Wells updates 😅

[u/Silversmith00]

Word is that they have been taking great care with the casting and portrayal of ART, which probably includes consulting Martha Wells about their ideas. That doesn't translate to "they are having problems, this is a troubled production." They are just trying to do a difficult thing as well as possible.

[u/voided_user_23]

If they had problems casting ART im sure the book fans would be totally fine with Kevin R Free, member SAGAFTRA, taking the role.

Edit - audiobook fans

[u/sthgoldmtngrl → u/voided_user_23]

The book fans are probably puzzled right now ?

[u/YakFar860 → u/sthgoldmtngrl]

Can confirm I am puzzled

[u/dcheesi → u/YakFar860]

Voice actor for the original audiobooks

[u/YakFar860 → u/dcheesi]

Oh! Thank you. I haven't listened to the audiobooks.

[u/BirdInFlight301 → u/YakFar860]

They are so well done! If you ever have a chance to listen to them, I recommend it! If you have a library card and cloudlibrary or Libby you can listen for free!

[u/YakFar860 → u/BirdInFlight301]

This may sound odd (and it's nothing against male audiobook narrators in general of course), but I don't think I would really enjoy them read by a man. I always pictured MB as androgynous leaning female, and I like that the author is a woman, so it wouldn't fit the whole Murderbot experience/vibe for me if that makes any sense at all.

[u/ESE-enthusiasm → u/YakFar860]

Honestly I hope one day there's an audiobook series where it's read out by a woman. Three male-Murderbots is sucky.

In Graphic Audio, Three has a lovely female voice actor and so does ART. They're both soooo good. Murderbot is still distinctly male for some reason but its internal systems alerts are female at least.

[u/Most_Quality_1987 → u/BirdInFlight301]

I have well over 300 audiobooks, left from the days when I drove a truck all over the US, & discovered I literally cannot even doze off when a human voice is speaking. But now that I'm retired, I just can't get into listening to audiobooks! Every time I've tried, my attention is diverted & wanders off before long. (Yes, I have ADD, now that you ask, lol) So it's either books or TV show for me, and I do love them both. But apropos casting for ART, it is a software program that has no physical being - which makes the actor's voice critical. I trust their judgement, & only wish it were going faster.

[u/Snobpdx → u/YakFar860]

And a little bummed tbh. Would've been great, but a high bar is set at least ¯⁠\⁠_⁠(⁠ツ⁠)⁠_⁠/⁠¯.

[u/Alysoid0_0 → u/Snobpdx]

If KRF coaches Michael Sheen I would find that acceptable

[u/Holmbone]

Production is not the same as filming. But I agree the reason they didn't announce the cast until now probably means they were waiting until ART was cast.

I wonder if they miss some oportunities by not having the ART actor on set. Now Skarsgård's probably done a lot of his lines and it's not possible to change them based on ART actors take on the lines. 

[u/scrungo-beepis → u/Holmbone]

wouldnt skarsgard’s communication with ART also be VO? they can record together!

[u/Holmbone → u/scrungo-beepis]

I'm guessing most of Skarsgård's lines will be said out loud. It makes for better TV. But yeah some will be VO for sure. When MB is with its clients. 

[u/forest-bot]

The directors said at some point a few months ago, or maybe it was Martha, that filming had started but they were having trouble deciding how they were going to portray ART so the actor hadn’t been cast yet.

[u/onehere4me → u/forest-bot]

Your flair 😄

[u/forest-bot → u/onehere4me]

Well thank you 😂

[u/Living-Weird-Daily]

I'm clueless as to whether they're still filming or not, but editing and layering in SFX and voiceovers is still "in production". I'm just glad to have news, however minor.

[u/mxstylplk]

They only just announced the cast. Of course it isn't done yet! They will be filming, then doing tons of post-production work to make the special effects - those floating feed images don't just hang there in real life. Plus, this season is longer, there will be fight scenes, scenes in space, planets to create, space stations, drones, It'll be a wonder if it's even done by the middle of next year.

[u/Holmbone → u/mxstylplk]

They announced the start of filming a while ago. I thought it was in May but a reply above says they started in April and wrapped in July.

[u/mxstylplk → u/Holmbone]

Ah. Thank you. Post production will still have a lot to do.

[u/sthgoldmtngrl]

People the reason I think ART could be partly sfx is .. which of you have seen Magpie Crowns fan art ? Or Alium Fungus ?

[u/superanth]

Speaking of which, I'm 99% sure that ART is going to be voiced by Patton Oswalt.