The breakneck pace of the streaming era means new TV shows often have little breathing room before getting put on the chopping block. Luckily, for British show creators Mickey Down and Konrad Kay, this was not the case for their financial drama “Industry.” The show, which focuses on people of various racial and class backgrounds navigating the cutthroat world of finance in London, has only gotten better with each season. Its fourth season premiered on HBO Jan. 11 and recently concluded Sunday — delivering the series’ highest stakes to date.
Prior seasons were set primarily on the trading floor of Pierpoint — a fictitious London investment bank — as its main characters navigated the pressurized sphere of sales and trading. Season four, however, is noticeably wider in scope than its predecessors in setting and story, expanding the show to other facets of the financial sector across the powerhouse English city. For example, protagonist Harper Stern, played by Myha’la Herrold, now runs her own short-only hedge fund after leaving Pierpoint.
Meanwhile, co-protagonist and Harper’s frenemy Yasmin Kara-Hanani, played by Marisa Abela, deals with her tenuous marriage to Henry Muck, played by Kit Harington. Yasmin, in an effort to make Henry and herself feel important after Henry’s previous company failed in season three, eventually lands him the CEO role of Tender, an online payment processor which is the main focus of the fourth season.
“Industry’s” storylines often mirror real-life events, with this season’s impetus being an online safety bill, similar to the one passed in the United Kingdom’s Parliament in 2023. In response, Tender — which had been collaborating with an online adult service analogous to OnlyFans — pivots into online banking. Their former CEO is ousted to enact this change, before Muck is hired as a replacement. Harper, sensing something suspicious in Tender’s finances, moves to orchestrate its downfall. The showrunners’ responsiveness to current events creates a fresh watch with every season.
Alongside new events comes an array of new cast members, all of whom contribute to the fantastic ensemble that makes up “Industry.” Chiefly are newcomers Max Minghella — who plays the CFO of Tender, Whitney Halberstram — and Kiernan Shipka, who portrays Halberstram’s assistant Hayley Clay. Minghella makes for an incredible villain, giving a spine-chilling, sharp and machiavellian performance as his character’s blackmail schemes evolve. Shipka — despite having a more minor role — has no shortage of memorable moments, impressively unfolding her character’s duplicitous layers and manipulating both audiences and characters in the show alike in supporting the plots of her boss.
Returning cast members deliver on these fronts as well — Harington’s portrayal of the unstable, childish Henry Muck is a standout and Miriam Petche showcases remarkable range as the delightfully witty Sweetpea Golightly, now an assistant to Harper. No matter how small or large their roles are, both new and existing actors on “Industry” all offer compelling performances this season.
A phenomenal cast only adds to the anxiety-inducing atmosphere that has been present throughout previous seasons of “Industry,” and season four continues that trend. Without the claustrophobic trading floor of past seasons, Down and Kay respond by ramping up the stakes to extremes. As the damning secrets of Tender become uncovered, and as the characters’ morality falls deeper into the trenches, the threat of violence and death hangs over the story like a thick fog. This is bolstered by a brooding soundtrack and precise editing, all of which contribute to the tension and anxiety the characters feel.
That underlying tension makes the season finale episode “Both, And” even more interesting — slightly less explosive and action-packed than its preceding episodes, the finale is dialogue-driven and reckons with the morality of the show’s key characters like Harper and Yasmin. The centerpiece is a conversation between the two, who come to terms with how they have changed since arriving at Pierpoint and the sacrifices made along the way.
The astounding performances of Herrold and Abela, who vividly portray their respective character’s complexities, drive home this portrayal of change over the course of the series. While the two may have achieved the material dreams that drove them to finance, they have also gradually lost the humanity seen in their season one counterparts.
With this latest season, “Industry” has again proved itself as one of the most potent and brilliant shows in modern television. Its fourth installment is viscerally intense and alluring with top-notch acting and storytelling, and the social satire is as presently relevant as ever. Initially one of the least viewed HBO shows, the series has come a long way from its humble beginnings, but it has retained the sharpness and ferocity it began with. Wrapping up the show for its fifth and final season could be difficult given the high standard set, but Down and Kay have shown themselves to be masters of their craft and their ability to build on the show’s storylines from season to season means viewers never know what to expect.
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