Ivanno Jeremiah, Colin Morgan, Gemma Chan, Katherine Parkinson and Emily Berrington as seen in "Humans"

As virtual assistants become more and more uncanny and current technology takes increasingly giant steps into the future, it requires little suspension of belief to enter a world like the one depicted in "Humans." The third season of AMC's hit sci-fi drama premieres Tuesday, June 5.

In a parallel reality set in Britain, anthropomorphic robots called synths are constructed for humans to purchase and use as they desire. The synths struggle to develop and maintain consciousness, which some were created with and which others gain by uploading a program. The series explores the political and ethical complexities that arise when a second class of human-like robots enters the societal fabric of Britain.

Niska (Emily Berrington, "24: Live Another Day") was created as a conscious synth by Dr. David Elster (Stephen Boxter, "Doctors") and works with fellow synths Max (Ivanno Jeremiah, "Doctor Who") and Mia (Gemma Chan, "Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit", 2014) and partial-synth Leo (Colin Morgan, "Merlin") to bring all conscious synths together and liberate the rest with the consciousness program. Leo is the son of Dr. Elster who, after a fatal car crash, was re-engineered back to life with synth technology. Before they were split up, he was part of a family that included sister Niska, brother Max and babysitter Mia, whose software was wiped when she was resold as Anita to another family.

Flash (Ritu Arya, "The Good Karma Hospital") is one of the synths that is able to gain self-awareness from the consciousness program and begins a life on the run as the robotic community struggles against the humans of Britain who largely do not wish to free synths from lives of servitude. Flash ended the second season by joining Max and the others in an abandoned train, finally making it to safety.

Having felt like an outsider for most of his life, straddling the human and synth worlds, Leo is motivated to give all synths the same independence he craves for himself. Morgan posited in a Channel 4 interview that Leo's desire to move the synths to action is close to his idea of true happiness, saying that "he could be the father and mother for others that he never had for himself."

Leo's relationship with his parents was non-existent, and he relied on his synth family to raise him. Though Dr. Elster's reconstruction of Leo was ultimately an act of love, his obsession with the technology he was developing went too deep for him to be a present parent to his son. Leading synths to better possibilities and bridging the gap between them and the humans of Britain was what Leo was born to do.

"Humans" plays out like a deep dive into an episode of another British drama that scrutinizes the implications and ethics of technology in our near future: "Black Mirror." There is a connection between the two series beyond just their concepts, as Jeremiah has appeared in both. His "Humans" character Max has evolved from a loving brother in Dr. Elster's family of synths to a naive synth navigating a community with hostile humans unwilling to understand him to a leader at a rail yard settlement. Of Max's growth and new role as an organizer of synths, Jeremiah said in the same interview: "Imagine if a modern-day leader led only with love. I think we'd see a very different kind of world."

Ivanno Jeremiah and Ritu Arya in "Humans"

Jeremiah and his fellow synth actors had to take extra steps in order to convincingly portray machines. Movement classes are common in the education of an actor, but those who portray the synths in "Humans" took part in a unique course in their character development process. In advance of filming the first season, "Humans" actors attended a synth school in order to develop the robotic, nearly human-like actions of the synths. Unlearning human ticks and building backstories for each character's traits through movement were essential to create and bring to set on Day 1.

Developing the robotic movements of Niska was a challenge for Berrington at first. The actress said in an interview with the Independent that she was "worried that all [her] performance would disappear, but actually it forces you to think more, have real thoughts that you can't 'show.'" She cited her work of portraying Niska as a synth family member-turned-sex worker-turned-synth-consciousness revolutionary as the role that has helped her develop the most as an actor.

It isn't all tough work for Berrington, though -- she also mentioned how she thoroughly enjoyed filming the memorable scene in which she got to release all her frustrations -- both personal and character-based -- with a (rubber) baseball bat. Berrington's past experience working in politics for Britain's Labour Party gives her perspective on the implications that the introduction of a class of synthetic humans would have on the nation.

Don't miss the thrilling season 3 premiere of "Humans" on AMC, airing Tuesday, June 5.