Alien: Earth just blew our minds with episode five, “In Space, No One Can…” which goes into detail on the spaceship Maginot’s fateful mission, which brought the titular aliens to Earth. It’s essentially a modern update of Ridley Scott’s original Alien film. And at the center of it is actor Babou Ceesay, who plays the cyborg Mr. Morrow, a loyal and ruthless agent of the Weyland-Yutani company. We got the chance to chat with Mr. Ceesay about his crucial role in the series, his character’s tragic past, and Morrow’s future in the franchise.
Nerdist: There have been many variations of synthetic people in the 45 years of the Alien franchise. Characters like Ash, then Bishop in Aliens. But never a cyborg before now. How did you prepare to create a whole new category of being for this franchise?
Babou Ceesay: There’s a desire to put me in the synthetic box, and I completely get that. But the truth is, this guy is human with enhancements. He’s human, he’s flawed, he sweats, he bleeds, he’s messed up. But he is more than human and can do other stuff. I looked for references, and in the end, I found this artist called Neil Harbisson, who’s a colorblind artist. And he has an antenna attached to the base of his skull that comes out the front and vibrates. With that, he’s able to hear and feel how to make his art. And so when I saw that, I thought that’s a jumping-off point.
In this wonderful documentary I saw on him, he said, “I feel more than human. I feel that I’m more than you.” And I thought, that’s amazing. So, Morrow is essentially a human being who knows that he’s capable of things other human beings are not. That must give you a sense of almost being a lion in a cage with a bunch of rabbits. You know what you’re capable of. You know, and I just took that and thought, okay, that’s always underlying.
In Episode 5, we really see a lot of what happened right before the series begins, things we only saw in quick cuts at the start of the first episode. And it’s almost like a remake of Ridley Scott’s original Alien. What did that feel like, to kind of get your chance to do a version of an iconic movie?
Babou Ceesay: It’s a dream come true. When I found out about it, they hadn’t written the episode yet. It was during the time of the [WGA and SAG-AFTRA] strikes, and essentially, I was just told the story of the episode by Noah Hawley. So I sat there with a pen and paper, listening to story time, and I couldn’t keep up… I stopped writing. I just started listening to it, because it was so fascinating to hear. In the back of your mind, the actor in me is also thinking. “You mean we get to make a little mini Alien movie in the middle of this series? And I get to be in it, directed by Noah Hawley? Let’s go,” you know? So, it’s a dream come true, and I enjoyed every second of it. So did everybody on the crew. We just had a ball shooting that episode.
We’ve seen some cool abilities that your robotic arm can do right off the bat. Has Noah Hawley filled you in on all the cool stuff Morrow can do as a cyborg, or do you think there are some more surprises in store?
Babou Ceesay: I hope there are some surprises that I’m going to find out about, because, so far, what I’ve seen, he’s got this knife and a blowtorch. You know, a fan would be nice. It gets quite sweaty on those ships. He gets quite sweaty, right? [laughs]
You are especially terrifying when talking to the Lost Boys, who are all kids in adult synth bodies. Why do you think Morrow has lost enough of his humanity that he can so easily terrify kids in the way he does, without blinking?
Babou Ceesay: I mean, he’s really burdened, right? If you think about what sort of life Morrow has led. You know, taken off the streets by Yutani, losing his daughter. So he’s carrying not only the pain of having lost probably one of the only things that matters to him in the whole universe. So he’s also burdened with guilt, knowing that if he’d been there, he might have saved her. Or, the situation that led to her death might never have materialized. So I took all these things and layered them in, in terms of my understanding of his morals.
So when he’s interacting with anyone, he’s thinking of his bigger purpose. His desire to achieve that bigger goal, his raison d’être, is everything. And at the same time, you say he doesn’t blink. I do think there is some element of difficulty when it comes to that, slightly. He needs to do what he needs to do to get hold of Boy Kavalier, to get back his alien specimens, etc. But I think He’s having to exploit what weaknesses he can find. And as awful as it is to say this, what better than to manipulate a kid who’s got access, potentially? You know? But I don’t think that’s easy for him. I think it’s hard.
Morrow lost 65 years of his life for Weyland-Yutani on the scientific mission on the Maginot. He’s a true company man. What do you think accounts for his devotion to the company in such an intense manner?
I mean, I try to imagine that moment when the company finds him. What was Morrow doing? What was he trying to achieve that made him stand out? And when they gave him the chance, how long did it take to trust? Imagine, to be on the streets, on some level, you must have been abandoned by a whole group of people, right? So this person takes you in, and suddenly you’re living a completely different existence. You want to be useful. You want to be valuable. Because that’s ties into your existence, deeply. I think he has a debt to Yutani? Because what else would make you leave your young daughter behind?
Do you have a favorite scene for this season, and is it one we’ve seen already?
Babou Ceesay: The scene with Adarsh Gourav (Slightly). The scenes I loved were the two scenes in episode four with Adarsh. Like, episode five, I love as a whole. It was just a massive adventure. But as a scene, just sitting there, just that exchange with Adarsh, having all that time, the 4 or 5 minutes of screen time. I particularly love the scene with his mom, dealing with him and his emotions. That scene churned my stomach all the time, from when I read it to when I was doing it. And weirdly, now in hindsight, it’s one of my favorite scenes that I did, yeah.
The show introduces four new alien species. If one of them were to kill your character, which one do you think you’d want the least?
Babou Ceesay: The least? The [octopus] eye. No. No, thank you. No thank you! [laughs]
New episodes of Alien: Earth drop every Tuesday on FX and FX on Hulu.