Murderbot Diaries May Be Ending Soon: Martha Wells Hints at Final Book

It’s not often that a character comes along and completely takes over your reading life. But Murderbot did exactly that to me.

Martha Wells didn’t just create another sci-fi protagonist, she created one of the most unique, relatable, and oddly lovable characters in modern science fiction. Ever since I picked up All Systems Red back in 2017, I’ve been hooked on this socially anxious, media-obsessed, corporate-security-unit-turned-reluctant-hero. And clearly, I’m not the only one. The Murderbot Diaries has grown into an award-winning, bestselling series and even landed a critically acclaimed TV adaptation.

So yeah, hearing that the series might be coming to an end? That stings a little.

According to a recent interview with Polygon, Martha Wells has started thinking about how and when Murderbot’s story could wrap up. Right now, there are seven entries in the series (plus a handful of short stories), with the eighth book, Platform Decay, set to release this May. But it’s book nine that has fans paying attention.

“I only have one Murderbot book on contract right now,” Wells said. “It’ll probably be the end of the year, at least, before I start the next Murderbot. I’ve got some vague ideas for it… And that may be the last book.”

That “may” is doing a lot of work but it’s enough to signal that we’re getting closer to the end than the beginning.

And honestly, if you’ve been following this series, you can kind of see why. Wells mentioned that in Platform Decay, Murderbot is in “a really good place.” That doesn’t necessarily mean a neat, tied-up conclusion is coming because if you know anything about this world, you know that’s not how it works.

As Wells put it, this isn’t the kind of story where one big villain goes down and everything suddenly gets better. The galaxy of Murderbot is a corporate-controlled mess, and there’s always going to be another entity ready to exploit, control, or replace whatever came before. It’s part of what makes the series feel so grounded despite all the futuristic tech.

Still, even if we don’t get a perfectly clean ending, the idea of a final chapter feels… significant.

This is a series that has quietly become one of the best in sci-fi, not because it’s the biggest or the flashiest, but because of how sharp, funny, and deeply human it is. Murderbot’s voice is unlike anything else out there, balancing sarcasm, anxiety, and genuine emotional growth in a way that sneaks up on you. You come for the action and world-building, but you stay because you actually care about a security unit that would rather be watching entertainment feeds than saving humans.

And I love that.

At the same time, this isn’t really a goodbye to Martha Wells. Even if Murderbot’s story does wrap up with book nine, she’s far from done. The Apple TV adaptation is continuing, with season two already in the works and hopefully more beyond that. And on the book side, Wells is deep into her fantasy series that started with Witch King in 2023 and continued with Queen Demon in 2025, with a third installment currently in progress.

So while one door might be closing, there are still plenty of reasons to stick around.

But let’s be honest: nothing quite hits like Murderbot.

For now, we still have Platform Decay to look forward to, and at least one more book after that. And until Martha Wells officially confirms the end, I’m holding onto a bit of hope that Murderbot will keep going just a little longer.

Because if there’s one series I’m not ready to let go of yet, it’s this one.

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