When Industry first premiered in 2020, it felt almost hostile to viewers. Filled with financial fallouts, freaky behavior, and another F-word we’ll leave to the imagination, the series was unsparing and uninterested in explaining itself. It had an early cult following, but it wasn’t until the third season that wider audiences started to catch on to what they were missing. “I was like, ‘Y'all are idiots! How do you not know that this show is the best show on television?” actor Myha’la, who stars as whip-smart, morally complex financier Harper Stern, tells W.
Created by former investment bankers Mickey Down and Konrad Kay, and set against the surprisingly thrilling world of high finance in London, each season of Industry has raised the stakes. Season four, which concluded with its gripping finale on March 1, is its darkest yet, given its plotlines of Russian collusion, sexual blackmail, and a bit of international financial fraud—all backed by a killer electro ’80s soundtrack to boot.
Some of the season’s sharpest moments come as Harper navigates rooms where she’s made to feel out of place. In the first episode, her old boss, an old-money financier from an aristocratic family, tells Harper she was hired as nothing more than a face. When she rebuts, accusing him of wanting her to be “a puppet in blackface,” he responds, “That woke shit no longer moves the needle in this new world.” It’s a jarring opener for a season that makes not-so-subtle commentary on the current state of the world. And as Harper, Myha’la serves as its ambitious anchor.
“I want [to play] a fully fledged human being who reflects the world to me and makes me feel, regardless of my color, that my story is worthy of being told,” Myha’la says. Below, she talks about representation without sanitization and finishing the series on top.
Industry’s fifth and final season was just announced. How does it feel to know it’s the last?
Five seasons is a huge accomplishment. I'm really proud that we made it this far, considering we had every reason not to.
The show took a while to find a wider audience. What do you think was going on in those early seasons?
I was always a little miffed about what felt like a lack of marketing, because I thought if more people knew about the show, they would know how great it is. However, Mickey and Konrad talk about the first two seasons a lot. They were like, “We were arrogant, and we pushed the audience away. We wanted them to struggle to understand what we were talking about, and for it to feel like a documentary.” A lot of those things can put an audience at a distance, even though I thought it was brilliant.
Let’s talk about the fashion this season. Was there anything from Harper’s styling or wardrobe that started to seep into your personal style as well?
Harper was wearing more jewelry— she was wearing diamonds this time around. I never thought I was that kind of girly. Surprise! I actually am. So that’s new. This hair is also new to me. This style, I'm loving.
You’ve talked about how the way Harper wears her hair reflects what she's going through. What does this style say about her this season?
I was just like, “What is the most expensive, high-maintenance thing she could do?” And obviously, it's human hair micro braids. There are probably 300-plus braids, and we had to redo most of them every two weeks. Lots of bundles, 24-inch, and they did some custom color. The first season was functional, and in the second season, she had her hair natural—maybe she didn’t have a hairstylist. Then it was a big chop because she's at the lowest point in her life. Her hair [in season four] is an indication of wealth, status, and stability.
Getting to the season finale: Harper is riding the high of this incredible moment for her fund, and at the same time, the lives of the two people she’s closest to, Eric and Yasmin, are falling apart.
We’re seeing Harper in shock and grief. Her family is gone, and now her chosen family are people she doesn't recognize. Like, you could be a bad whatever—but child sex trafficking? There’s a line. She feels really alone. There’s no processing. It all seems too impossible. I think her brain is breaking a little bit. She’s not addressing what’s happening because she knows Yaz is traumatized. She says in the moment, “You don’t have to do this. Let’s get out of here.” She understands that Yaz is coming from a hurt and broken place.
People call Harper a psychopath. I’d argue she’s not. What do you think?
She's ruthless in business, but if anyone is paying attention, they'll know she's one of the most loyal friends and will defend a bitch even when she doesn't deserve it. There are also so many social, cultural, and racial elements here that make it difficult for people to understand her. She doesn't do the quintessentially British, passive-aggressive thing of hiding behind niceties. She watches people like her mentor, Eric, and all these other big men in business, like the guy who says, “I'm gonna call everyone the R-word,” and they're not hiding their ruthlessness. When Harper plays the same game, people just don't like it.
Myha’la and Marisa Abela in the Industry season four finale.
There still aren’t many Black women in leading roles. What does Harper mean to you in that context?
I feel like it's always going to be our problem to convince people that there are people in the world who are interested in these stories. What's unique about Harper is that she wasn't originally written as a woman of color. I'm pretty sure in its earliest iterations, the character was just a white guy. Nia DaCosta, who was in the writer’s room for the first season, was like, “What if she was Black?”
We have to pause for that. Very interesting.
Super interesting. I think what isolates audiences is when Black characters are simplified. To me, it's not relatable. I'm deeply flawed, and I hold contradictions just like any other person. Often, for the sake of trying to protect us, we want to see idealistic depictions of Black people. We want to see Black people winning and being morally and ethically correct. I understand why, but it's hard to relate to one-dimensional people. Harper isn’t any version of the Black woman archetype we see on TV. She might be ruthless, she might be immoral, but she’s human. And that gives me permission to be human myself.
