‘Humans’ Star Bella Dayne on What’s Next for Astrid & Niska in Season 3
Q&A
On June 5, AMC’s hit sci-fi show Humans will return for a third season.
After the all synths were given consciousness during the Season 2 finale, fans of the show can look forward to an exciting new season filled with many new challenges for the characters.
Below, star Bella Dayne, who plays free spirit Astrid, shares what fans can expect from these new episodes and what’s in store for the relationship between her character and synth Niska (Emily Berrington).
Your character Astrid is in a relationship with synth Niska, who has a history of hating humans. How does that dynamic work?
Bella Dayne: I think the most important part about their dynamic is that Niska falls in love with a human, which is Astrid. In a way, Astrid sees the pain that Niska has experienced, and she understands that if Niska lashes out and behaves in a certain way, it’s out of pain.
The fact that Astrid sees that and keeps just returning it with warmth and love disarms Niska, and in the end, lets her get her guard down and go for this love. I think that’s really beautiful, and that dynamic doesn’t necessarily change.
Bella Dayne as Astrid, Emily Berrington as Niska (Colin Hutton/Kudos/CH4/AMC)
What’s next for the two of them in Season 3?
Astrid definitely is the one for Niska. Though, with someone who has experienced so much pain as Niska has and who has had so much hatred for humans beforehand, it is a slow process to unwind that. If there are things that happen around you that maybe remind you again of the pain that you’ve experienced, it’s hard to not fall back into certain behaviors. So I think that kind of dynamic persists throughout the new season.
Astrid is there for her to be a reminder of how to be kind to yourself, how to be kind to others and that acting out of that pain in aggressive ways is not the answer for anyone and not for yourself either. It’s a really beautiful relationship, and both grow a lot in it. Especially Niska grows a lot in it, but Astrid does as well and she becomes the rock for Niska in her life.
In the second season finale, every synth was given consciousness. Can you tell us where the show picks back up?
I remember when I read that season finale of Season 2, I was thinking, ‘Oh wow! That will be a whole different world. The world will be turned upside down,’ and it is. It is exactly that. In Season 3, I think the writers did a fantastic job of really looking at how that would change society entirely and how it would question the laws: Do these machines have rights? How do they exist within our society? How do we not cause uprising? How do we coexist? Are they beings, or are they not?
Ivanno Jeremiah as Max, Gemma Chan as Mia (Colin Hutton/Kudos/CH4/AMC)
So it questions all these things, and it shows a wide range of how humans react to it. Some are very embracing, helpful and wanting to integrate them. [Others are] completely refusing them, wanting to destroy them and having them out of society. I think it’s something that is really brilliantly displayed and can actually compare to a lot of political situations we have currently. You can relate to it and see the wide range of how humans react to certain groups and how do you integrate that into society. So it’s a really fantastic, exciting new season.
Humans, Season 3 Premiere, Tuesday, June 5, 10/9c, AMC
