Dan Stevens is playing Alex Murphy in Prime Video’s RoboCop series, and the actor has confirmed it himself.
Stevens posted a video to Instagram showing him seated in front of a Hagane Works RoboCop figure from Good Smile Company, with the caption “Buzz buzz…” and a mechanical arm emoji. He followed it with the franchise’s signature line, “Dead or alive, you’re coming with me.” The clip also included Deadline’s report, which broke the casting news. Stevens appears in the video with a cropped haircut close to the one Peter Weller wore in the 1987 original.
Deadline reported the casting exclusively, with Variety confirming it the same day. Stevens will play both Murphy and his cyborg alter ego across the eight-episode order Amazon MGM Studios handed out in July. He is the first cast member announced for the show, which remains untitled.
Amazon had Stevens near the top of its list early. He emerged quickly as the favorite for the part, and the casting extends a working relationship with Amazon MGM Studios that already includes the recently wrapped Legacy of Spies.
The logline sticks close to the original premise. A giant tech conglomerate convinces a city to place a powerful robot on its police force, and that robot carries the consciousness of a beloved officer killed in the line of duty.
Peter Ocko is writer, showrunner, and executive producer. James Wan executive produces through Blumhouse Atomic Monster alongside Michael Clear and Rob Hackett, with Danielle Bozzone overseeing for the company. Ed Neumeier and Michael Miner, who co-wrote the 1987 film, are also executive producers.
Wan framed the project as an update rather than a remake when the series was greenlit in July, calling Paul Verhoeven’s original decades ahead of its time and pointing to its questions about technology, identity, and corporate power as more urgent now than they were then. He said the goal is to honor what made the original iconic while building something new.
The series has been in development since Amazon completed its acquisition of MGM in 2022, giving the studio access to the RoboCop rights along with the rest of the library.
Stevens is an unusual choice for the role. He has spent the years since Downton Abbey moving between wildly different registers, from the coiled menace of The Guest to the fractured lead of Legion to broad comedy in Solar Opposites. He also played the Beast in Disney’s live-action Beauty and the Beast and Trapper in Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire.
Weller originated Murphy in Verhoeven’s film and returned for RoboCop 2 in 1990. Robert Burke took the role for RoboCop 3 in 1993, and Joel Kinnaman played him in the 2014 remake. The franchise has also produced a Marvel Productions animated series in 1988, a short-lived live-action show in 1994, and the RoboCop: Prime Directives miniseries in 2001.
Stevens has a full slate ahead of the shoot. He is in production on the second season of Dexter: Resurrection, reunites with Adam Wingard for Onslaught, and returns as Trapper in Godzilla x Kong: Supernova in 2027.
Prime Video has not announced a premiere date or additional casting.
Sources: Deadline | Variety | The Hollywood Reporter | Collider | ComingSoon
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