Over the past 50 years, Alien fans have often only had one image in mind when it came to the threat of the terrifying franchise: the xenomorph. However, with each subsequent entry, a new type of threat became more clear, which is the Weyland-Yutani Corporation. The corporation might not be quite as intimidating as the xenomorph, but fans have witnessed in multiple films how they put profit over people, often resulting in protagonists paying the ultimate price. In that sense, actor Babou Ceesay finds himself in a tricky situation in the upcoming Alien: Earth, as he is the defacto face of Weyland-Yutani, though over the course of the series, fans will witness how he’s not just a mindless cog in a dangerous machine. Alien: Earth is set to premiere on FX on August 12th.
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Complicating matters is that, within the world of the series, in an effort to push the limitations of humanity, corporations have developed synthetics, hybrids, and in the case of Ceesay’s Morrow: cyborgs.
“I don’t even want to give away his backstory … but he’s a cyborg, let’s just say that,” Ceesay shared during a press event on the set of Alien: Earth which ComicBook attended. “When I say cyborg, what do you think? This is interesting. People have been saying odd things to me when I tell them I’m a cyborg. So some people think that he’s all machine when they say ‘cyborg,’ but that’s not it. He’s human and flawed in a human way. Whereas you’ve got people who are synths, who are, I guess, AI brains with synthetic bodies and then you’ve got the hybrids that are both. So he’s a cyborg. The best way I can describe him, he’s like an iPhone 1 in a world of iPhone 20s. But what he does have is an unbelievable clarity in terms of what he wants to do and a determination. He’s ruthless for that reason.”
FX describes the series, “In the year 2120, the Earth is governed by five corporations: Prodigy, Weyland-Yutani, Lynch, Dynamic, and Threshold. In this Corporate Era, cyborgs (humans with both biological and artificial parts) and synthetics (humanoid robots with artificial intelligence) exist alongside humans. But the game is changed when the wunderkind Founder and CEO of Prodigy Corporation unlocks a new technological advancement: hybrids (humanoid robots infused with human consciousness). The first hybrid prototype named ‘Wendy’ (Sydney Chandler) marks a new dawn in the race for immortality. After Weyland-Yutani’s spaceship collides into Prodigy City, ‘Wendy’ and
the other hybrids encounter mysterious life forms more terrifying than anyone could have ever imagined.”
With Morrow not having as much to gain from the profits of Weyland-Yutani, there’s another reason he remains loyal to the corporation.
“He was abandoned because he had palsy. So his left arm, in particular, would do whatever it wanted. And so, as a child, it was very difficult for him to connect with people and Yutani saw that, took him in, gave him a cyborg arm and gave him a purpose,” Ceesay recalled. “There’s a line he says in it, he says, ‘Wouldn’t that be nice, to be all machine instead of what I am, the worst parts of a man?’ And I think he means his emotions because that’s what makes him conflicted. He wishes he had that cold, ‘I just need to get this done.’”
The nature of instellar travel, however, means that when Morrow goes into deep space, a lot more time passes on Earth, resulting in a bit of a disconnect between the company he left and the company he returns to.
“It’s been 65 years that he’s not been on the planet. So I think, originally, Yutani probably would have been a bit more of a warm center,” the actor confirmed. “Current Yutani, who he doesn’t know, he’s still having to catch up and go, ‘Oh, wait, no, it’s 65 years later.’ That Yutani is a bit more efficient, calculated, wants to do what they want to do. But look, they’re all like that as far as I’m concerned.”
He continued, “There’s subtle things like the world is hotter and society has been rearranged in a way he doesn’t understand. Everyone he’s ever known is dead, so that’s really difficult for him, to have to develop a newfound trust with, basically, strangers.”
Despite the legacy of the franchise, Alien: Earth marks the first live-action, longform TV series set within this world. Ceesay reflected on what it means to him to join the project.
“The pressure has been something. I was the first person to shoot in the entire series because of the actor strikes, things changed, I was available to work, so they put me on. You get to the set and it’s been built exactly like the movie,” Ceesay admitted. “You’re honored and excited, because I love, especially the original, so much. Just being in this world, it’s mind-blowing, and it doesn’t matter, I guess from the beginning of it, eight months, I still pinch myself. You see an egg open and your mind gets blown. I’m listening to Matthew McConaughey’s book, and he says, ‘Don’t be so impressed by all of it.’ So I have to keep reminding myself, ‘I’m here to do a job,’ so that’s been working.”
With how much time Ceesay has gotten to spend as the character, he’s gotten to inject more parts of himself into Morrow to add even more layers to him.
“It’s hard to admit to this, but he’s got a side to him that’s very … I don’t even know if ‘dark’ is the right thing,” the performer pointed out about how he’s embraced his own persona into Morrow. “I love the way he uses his mind and someone else’s — wow, this is coming out — someone else’s psychological weakness to get an advantage. I came over from Africa when I was 18 to England and I was stunned by the cultural shift, and I had to find ways to code switch, so very soon, emotionally, I just couldn’t connect to people for the first year. I just couldn’t understand, because I come from a communal place. So I had to try to find ways to adapt, and I’ve always looked at that period of my life as a bit of a sellout.”
He continued, “I’m back home in Africa now, so when I started working on Morrow and digging into the character, suddenly that moment came back to me of, ‘Oh, wow,’ so I would try to find a way to connect with someone to get what I wanted on the other side, as ruthless as that sounds … This is awful to say. I don’t need to do that now, I’ll just tell them what I think, but I look at Morrow and I feel, ‘Well, he’s come back 65 years later, he can’t just overcome all of the challenges in front of him. He looks for the weakest point and starts drilling at it.’”
“I admire it, actually, if I’m completely honest, as dark as that sounds. I admire … in a sick way, I look at what he’s doing and I go, ‘Maybe you have to love your character, but what he’s doing, there’s one particular thing he’s doing in this thing that’s…’ I don’t know how audiences are going to deal with that,” Ceesay confirmed. “I have a problem with it personally, in a way, but I love that I get to mess with that.”
Alien: Earth lands on FX on August 12th.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity. You can contact Patrick Cavanaugh directly on Twitter or Instagram.
Stay tuned for more of our Alien: Earth coverage, including exclusive interviews with the cast and crew, by heading here.
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