Async's Goal In 'Backrooms', Explained

Whenever there’s a horrific force of nature, there’s almost always a corporation looking to exploit it. Whether it’s Weyland-Yutani in Alien (1979) or the Umbrella Corporation in Resident Evil (2002), you better believe that the evils of capitalism will rear its ugly head. Kane Parsons’ breakout hit Backrooms (2026) also has its shady corporation looking to take advantage of the Backrooms: Async. But is it actually a suspicious company up to no good? Heck, is it even evil?

Understanding Async is hard because there isn’t a lot of information about it in the film, yet its presence is felt throughout Backrooms. Async interacts with the Backrooms in odd and unconventional ways, and the way it treats its own employees is just as confounding. With a sequel to Backrooms already confirmed, and with Async most likely continuing to play a major role in that film, let’s break down what it is, what its purpose is, and whether or not it can be trusted.

What Do We Know About Async In ‘Backrooms’?

Backrooms is reluctant about sharing information about the Async Research Institute, and it’s easy to see why. For as important as it may seem, Async is not the focus of the film’s hour and 50-minute runtime. It is a background player as the film focuses on the psychological decay of its protagonists, Clark and Mary.

Still, Async plays a prominent role in Mary’s story. So, let’s step back and take stock of what we do know about the company. Most of what we know about Async comes from Phil, a researcher at Async who interviews Mary following her escape from the Backrooms. Originally, Async developed MRI machines for hospitals, but after it discovered the Backrooms, its purpose changed. It began to send researchers into the Backrooms daily, and it apparently has the backing of the United States government. Because of this, Async is incredibly clandestine and wants to keep things under wraps, going so far as to question what to do with Mary once the interview has concluded.

While it may not be stated within the film itself, it can be implied that Async has been studying the Backrooms for years, mostly through its research tactics. It can send teams of multiple people into the Backrooms with clear-cut routines, like setting up traps, most notably in the furniture store that was booby-trapped with some unknown gas. It’s not much, but we can at least confirm that Async is fairly adept at exploring this liminal space.

What Is Async Trying To Do With The Backrooms?

One of the more noteworthy aspects of Phil’s conversations with Mary is how unwilling he is to tell her exactly what Async is trying to accomplish with the Backrooms. However, we do know at least one thing: It is trying to map out the Backrooms.

That shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise. In a space where logic and reason are taken as mere suggestions, mapping out and exploring the Backrooms seems like a logical action. Clark himself attempts to do so after he discovers it for the first time. But while that may be an easy answer to the question of what Async is trying to accomplish, it only opens further questions, like why is it mapping the Backrooms out? What does mapping them accomplish? What’s with all the security equipment? And why are there cardboard cutouts of cavemen?

Those questions are much harder to answer, but not impossible. For example, the bilingual cavemen are Async’s attempt to make contact with the creatures of the Backrooms, the Life Form and the Still Life. They’re placed near their equipment, like cameras to document them or anyone that wanders in, or the aforementioned traps to ensnare the creatures. As Mary walks the halls of Async once she’s reduced, she sees the Still Life of Clark, Pirate Clark, being dissected by Async, suggesting that Async wishes to understand and communicate with the creatures of the Backrooms in greater detail.

But the ultimate goal isn’t known. Fans have speculated for years that Async wants to use the Backrooms’ infinitely repeating space for shipping, effortlessly moving goods from one location to another by using it as a highway. Other groups of fans have theorized that Async wants to use the space to sell to people as a residential space, which would also somewhat explain why it wants to experiment on the Life Forms and Still Lifes. Can’t exactly sell condos if nightmarish amalgamations of its residents are stalking the halls, but that’s capitalism for you.

Is Async Evil?

One of the biggest lingering questions from the film is whether Async is evil or not. We may not see the company all that much, but given how it potentially left Mary to die in the Backrooms, it’s certainly possible Async is evil.

That being said, it seems more likely than not that Async is not mustache-twirling evil. Phil seems to be a somewhat alright guy, making sure to spend time with his family and doing whatever he can to put Mary at ease despite the very real possibility that his superiors would rather let her die than tell other people about the Backrooms. Not only that, but the people in the hazmat suits that explore the Backrooms don’t really want to be there. Who would honestly want to explore that empty void of a labyrinth as their 9-5?

It may very well be that the people in charge of Async may not be evil, but rather greedy and shortsighted. If their goal is to focus on maximizing profit or co-opting the space for urban development, then they clearly have no regard for the average person as long as they can profit from it, making them no better than wildly greedy companies like Omni Consumer Products from RoboCop (1987). Async may be on the up and up and have altruistic uses for the Backrooms, but while it may not be evil, it is morally gray at the very least.