If you’re even the least bit interested in science fiction, you know Joe Morton. The star of the cult classic film The Brother from Another Planet (1984), Morton has starred in countless films in a variety of genres, but for sci-fi fans, he is perhaps best remembered for his role as Dr. Miles Bennett Dyson, the unwitting creator of Skynet in Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1992). “I told James Cameron the reason I wanted to do that piece was because of a Richard Pryor joke,” Morton tells Inverse. “That the reason that Black people either are not in science fiction or are killed right away is because Hollywood doesn't think we're going to be here in the future.”
Outside of the dystopian future of Terminator, or his time as the father of Cyborg in Justice League, Morton has most recently beamed into the Final Frontier in an episode of Strange New Worlds Season 4, called “Orders of Magnitude.” Airing during the 60th anniversary of the entire Trek franchise, this episode delivers a classic premise, in which Jim Kirk (Paul Wesley) goes head-to-head with Admiral Reeger (Morton), as the Enterprise is sent on a mission that may have good intentions, but could also cross a serious line. Inverse caught up with Morton to get his take on it becoming a part of Star Trek lore, his feelings about real AI versus Skynet, and the usefulness of science fiction as social allegory. Mild spoilers ahead.
