Two of Alien: Earth's new Synthetic characters were influenced by a foundational Alien android, say stars Timothy Olyphant and Babou Ceesay: "Morrow has a desire to be more like Ash"

If two of Alien: Earth's most important new Synthetic characters seem familiar, there's a good reason for that. Androids have been a staple of the Alien franchise going back to the very beginning, and according to Alien: Earth stars Timothy Olyphant and Babou Ceesay, it's Ian Holm’s iconic science officer/sleeper agent Ash from Ridley Scott’s 1979 masterpiece who looms largest over their new Synthetics.

"I've watched Ian Holm's performance many, many times over the years before this thing came up. I'm a huge fan of his work," Olyphant tells GamesRadar+, speaking exclusively at a press event in London. "Watching Ian Holm in those scenes, back behind everybody, just manipulating the conversation. It's riveting. So, yeah, never gets old."

In Alien: Earth, Olyphant plays Kirsh, the senior-most Synth at mega-corp Prodigy. He's something of a mentor to Wendy (Sydney Chandler) and the rest of the Lost Boys – Hybrids who represent the next step in human evolution. Similarly, Babou Ceesay's Morrow is something new for the series: a Cyborg, with a nifty artificial arm that conceals all manner of useful tools.

As the security officer aboard doomed Weyland-Yutani vessel the USCSS Maginot, Morrow makes it his mission to retrieve the Xenomorph and other biological specimens when the Maginot crash-lands in Prodigy-owned New Siam. But as a cyborg who's more human than machine, Morrow has a major emotional investment in the outcome.

"Somebody said to me that Morrows would be if Ash had survived, right? And come back to Earth," Ceesay tells GamesRadar+. "And I thought this is really interesting. I think Morrow has a desire to be more like Ash, more machine, so he can do away with his weak, humanly emotions and body parts. There is something of that in him for sure. That determination as well and that desire to be useful to the bigger mission."

Also starring Alex Lawther, Samuel Blenkin, Adrian Edmondson, Essie Davis and more, Alien: Earth is set two years before the events of Alien, and will see the iconic Xenomorph unleashed on terra firma for the first time. But Xenos aren't the only threat to planet Earth in the show.

Alien: Earth's first season kicks off with a two-episode premiere on Hulu in the US on August 12, and on Disney Plus in the UK on August 13. In London, England? You can also pop by the Natural History Museum until 22 August for a glimpse of something extraterrestrial.

For more, check out our Alien: Earth review, and while you wait for the show to burst on screens, prepare for the weeks ahead with our Alien: Earth release schedule.