Alien: Earth is packed so full of near-sociopathic characters that it’s sometimes easy to lose track of whether you’re dealing with an AI, a human, or some combination of the two.
The good news is, although there are various artificially intelligent beings in Noah Hawley’s Alien universe prequel, the show starts by providing us with a handy guide to remember them all. We’ve transcribed that opening lore below, along with some more information (and examples) of the different types of being in Alien: Earth, from cyborgs to synths and hybrids.
What does the Alien: Earth intro tell us about cyborgs, synths and hybrids?
At the start of episode 1, text appears briefly explaining the difference between three beings: cyborgs, synths, and hybrids. We’ve transcribed it in full below:
“In the future the race for immortality will come in three guises:
Cybernetically enhanced humans: Cyborgs
Artificially intelligent beings: Synths
Synthetic beings downloaded with human consciousness: HybridsWhich technology prevails will determine what corporation rules the universe.”
Let’s break those three down in some more detail.
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What are cyborgs?
Credit: Patrick Brown / FX
Cyborgs have a rich history in sci-fi, and Alien: Earth is no exception. A cyborg is essentially a human being with some kind of robotic enhancement. We meet our first one fairly early on in the form of Morrow (Babou Ceesay), the head of security onboard Weyland-Yutani’s USCSS Maginot, the doomed ship carrying multiple alien species that crash lands into Earth.
Morrow may have a fairly robotic demeanour, but he has the brain of a human. His arm, on the other hand, is pretty much a Swiss Army Knife, complete with a blade and various handy power tool attachments.
What are synths?
Credit: Patrick Brown / FX
Remember Ash (Ian Holm) from the original Alien movie? He was a synthetic, which is basically an entirely man-made being with an AI brain. Our main Alien: Earth synth is Kirsh (Timothy Olyphant), a Prodigy employee who works alongside Boy Kavalier (Samuel Blenkin) and his new batch of hybrids (more on those below).
What are hybrids?
Credit: FX
Synthetics crossed with humans, hybrids are Prodigy’s brand new experiment and the core focus of Alien: Earth. Wendy (Sydney Chandler) is the first of a group of terminally ill children who have their consciousness’ transferred into the bodies of synthetics. This means Wendy is capable of super-human speed and strength, but still has the memories and emotions of the little girl she was before her procedure.
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