Cyborgs: Outdated Tech in Alien: Earth? Highlights from SDCC 2025

In the universe of “Alien: Earth,” humanity has engineered three advanced lifeform technologies, yet one of these is considered obsolete by the characters within the series.

At the recent San Diego Comic-Con 2025, during a session dedicated to the upcoming Alien TV show, actor Babou Ceesay, known for his roles in “Into the Badlands” and “Rogue One,” discussed the distinct characteristics of his character named Morrow. Morrow is depicted as a crew member of the spaceship Maginot, which has been on a deep-space mission for the past 65 years tasked with collecting samples from five different alien species for the corporation Weyland-Yutani.

Morrow’s character is interestingly a cyborg, capable of morphing his hands to produce various tools and weapons. Ceesay highlighted that, given the duration of the Maginot’s mission, Morrow’s technology is relatively dated. Ceesay humorously described him as, “He’s like the first-generation iPhone in a world dominated by the twentieth-generation iPhone.”

The beginning of “Alien: Earth” starts with a narrative that explains the development of three technologies aimed at achieving immortality: cyborgs, synths, and hybrids. The series introduces hybrids in its 2120 setting as new entities—synthetic bodies infused with human consciousness. Cyborgs, on the other hand, are humans enhanced with cybernetic parts, a concept not previously explored in the Alien films. Synths, which are entirely synthetic beings, have been a staple in all the Alien films.

In the first episode of “Alien: Earth,” Morrow is the sole cyborg introduced. However, this doesn’t imply he is the only one of his kind. Historically, synths have been more commonly portrayed in the Alien series (starting from the original 1979 movie, which is set two years after the events of “Alien: Earth”). This positioning suggests that while Morrow’s technology is antiquated, cyborgs, in general, might be seen as outdated. In contrast, synths remain the prevalent technology, and hybrids represent the cutting-edge, with the series featuring the first-ever such being (played by Sydney Chandler’s character, Wendy). However, given the narrative of other Alien films set much later, it appears that cyborgs fade into obscurity and hybrids do not become a mainstay in technology, though the reasons for this are not yet clear.

Despite being seen as archaic technology in the year 2120, Morrow, with his versatile cyborg abilities, remains a prominent figure in “Alien: Earth.” Ceesay proudly asserts, “He’s got his Swiss army knife arm!”