The end of Industry season 3 felt, in many ways, like it could have been the series finale. The fictional bank which served as the bedrock for the show effectively closed. The characters had moved on to other jobs or, in some cases, new marriages that were also kind of like jobs. One character's wife was tragically shot for her husband's unpaid gambling debts. It all prompted the question: If Industry does come back, what will it be? Instead of shying away from that, the show's creators, Mickey Down and Konrad Kay, decided to tear down and rebuild. The premiere episode introduced at least six new characters, a new business to act as a foil to Harper's shenanigans, and a lot of corporate intrigue.
The show's stars are its anchor, giving it a familiarity despite all that change and making sure it still feels like Industry. Here, Myha'la (Harper), Miriam Petche (Sweetpea), and Kiernan Shipka (new character Hayley), break down how they oriented themselves to the new world they were given, how their characters relate to the men around them, and what it's been like to watch the show finally find its audience.
There's so much change this season: new cast members, the scaffolding of Pierpoint is gone. Myha'la and Miriam, how do you orient yourselves to all the newness?
Myha'la: Nothing can ever prepare me for the chaos that is Mickey and Konrad's writing. Do not be surprised by how they expand and how they stretch and challenge themselves. We're just we're just broadening the experiences of these characters who we know so well. That's the thing that grounds us. We know these characters, we know their origin stories so well that new scenarios, it's not a huge challenge to translate these characters into the new environments. It's more fun than anything, because now we're exploring what those characters look like in new scenarios and in new parts of the Industry world.
Now that the scaffolding of Pierpoint as a narrative device is gone, does it feel scary to have that taken away, or is it freeing?
Myha'la: I mean, it was ripped away from me in season 2, so I'm used to it.
Miriam: I feel like Mickey and Konrad wrote the show not thinking that finance exists in a vacuum within itself amd is always in a conversation with the outer world. Just because Pierpoint isn't there doesn't mean that the finance element of the show isn't there. I feel like it was a natural progression of the show. To do something quite risky, like to get rid of Pierpoint, it's great. It throws you into wherever they want to take it. And you're forced to see, Okay, what are the wider things at play here that would that would genuinely influence finance and people and politics?
Kiernan, your character is new this season. We meet her in episode 1 and there's a lot of mystery around her. She has this nice apartment, we hear about a boyfriend she allegedly has. What can you tease about her?
Kiernan: That's what I really liked about the character. Every scene I read that she was in, there always seemed to be some kind of reveal. She starts off not having any power in this very powerful world. We discover she has more power than we think. It speaks to the one of the broader themes of the season. Everybody's talking about power different capacities, and she represents a person who's finding power, even if they seemingly don't have much of it. She's also just very spicy and fearless and bold and moves and charges through the world in such an opposite way to me. Escaping into someone's psychology who is evaluating every single conversation in the realm of, How can this benefit me? is so interesting.
One thing I've always found so interesting about the show is the way the sex onscreen communicates power—who has it, who doesn't. What does the sex in season 4 tell us about power?
Myha'la: There's so many scenarios in which you are being deceived about who has the power in a sex act on the show. This season, it's not just power. I think it was maybe mostly about power in the previous seasons. Most of the sex scenes are really plot driven time. time it is also an exchange of power. But I can think of two in the first episode where important plot stuff is happening in the bedroom. Industry does a brilliant job giving us scenarios to discuss thematically what happens in and around sex, between people, between three people, maybe.
This is a show riddled with characters that I would lovingly describe as having severe mommy or daddy issues. Who, in your opinion, is the worst offender?
Myha'la: I mean, it's like... definitely Yasmin.
Kiernan: She represents daddy issues.
Myh'la: But, bro... Henry, low-key. And Harper, too.
Miriam: Mommy issues.
Myha'la: We haven't met Sweetpea's parents yet.
Miriam: Maybe I'll have some issues there. To be confirmed.
Who needs therapy the most?
Myha'la: Mickey and Konrad. No, everyone needs therapy. Everyone will benefit from therapy, particularly the people on this show.
Kiernan: I would love to see a therapist character on Industry.
Miriam: That would be a brilliant thing to see within the show, how much they reject it, how much they tackle it.
Myha'la: I would have loved to see Rob's therapy sessions. Boy crying!
Miriam: Get the tissues.
Myha'la: You can also go to therapy and not learn anything.
Kiernan: They'd be intellectualizing their problems. They would be performing for their therapists. They'd be like, I think I'm my therapist's favorite.
Harper has a line in episode 1 that I really loved. She says, "I can't be a punching bag for another man's fear." How does that resonate for each of your characters this season?
Myha'la: I feel like both of your characters are saying the same thing, and enacting it.
Kiernan: For Haley, she's aware of her circumstances and aware that the only way out is to use her body, and also use her brain, to reclaim some sense of power that she's clamoring for. She's got such a complicated relationship with men, and I also think that Haley's relationship with Yasmin, there's some sort of cosmic, spiritual bond there, because they both have such deep, wretched histories with me. There's not a lot of words in some of our exchanges, but you can feel that they understand each other on a deeper level.
Miriam: Sweetpea has a much more difficult relationship with men this season. Particularly in season 3,I think she was like, I know the lay of the land. I know how to handle myself. I know how to progress myself, when to speak, when not to speak. I think she also thought that she understood men and she didn't. When her kind of agency is challenged and she doesn't really get the first say in how people see her, that's huge for her. There's this entire discourse about her and her body that she's not a part of. That's terrifying for her, and it's also something that she probably won't admit to herself, that she's really, really, genuinely scared.
Ken Leung (Eric Tao) said he sent to Mickey and Konrad the line that resonated with him for Eric, and it ended up as the crossword clue. Was there a line of dialogue or a moment in the script that really unlocked this season for you?
Myha'la: Is it not, "We're all cunts, aren't we?"
Miriam: That's a core value of Industry.
Myha'la: Harper has a line in episode 5 or 6, she's speaking to Eric, and she says, I have become fucking undeniable. She really is like, I have exactly become the person I've always tried to be, that I was working towards being, why isn't it enough? That's Harper's core.
Myha'la and Miriam, what has it been like as the show has gotten bigger to watch it find its audience?
Miriam: I joined in season three, so I've joined at a moment where the train's really started moving. There's such a loyal and dedicated and intellectual fan base. I've never seen it like this before. The conversations that I had online about the show were so interesting and had so much detail and so much care. It feels like a conversation with an audience that I haven't been privy to before. It's quite incredible to have a piece of work that you're proud of and have people really pay attention to it and discuss it.
Myha'la: It's a huge joy, and is extremely humbling, that overwhelmingly our audience that is "day one" is as well, is really proud of us, really excited for us, and they, too, are happy that other people are catching on. I'm really proud of the show. We love it so much, and I'm just happy that other people love it. TV is for entertainment. If people are talking about it, they're being entertained. I'm actually curious, Kiernan, how it feels to you?
Kiernan: And I remember the minute that I signed on for this role and I went to this party, and my agent told a few of my friends. I hadn't told them yet. Everyone was so excited. And I could feel the energy shift around me. Anyone I told was like, Oh, wow, Industry. It has a weight to it. Season 3 put you guys in a different category, but I've always felt the buzz.
