Industry season 4 takes a risky step away from Pierpoint – and it’s all the better for it

Industry has always been the financial drama that plummets those of us with no knowledge of that high-stakes world directly into its fiery hot centre.

"Is it just about banker bros and gilets?", many have often asked me when I proclaim it to be one of the best shows on telly. While both of those things admittedly do appear in plentiful supply throughout the show, the draw of Industry is the chaos and the impending sense of doom of a world that not many of us get a real window into.

Previous seasons of Industry were defined by the overarching way in which it encapsulated what one person's worst day ever could look like – then putting it against the backdrop of a fast-paced and cutthroat working world that doesn't take any prisoners. We saw as much in season 3, where things took an even darker turn than ever before in what many fans felt like was Industry's last hurrah. Not because anybody wanted it to be, but rather because it felt as though storylines and characters had been tied up in a way that many showrunners would see as a perfect time to bow out.

But series co-creators and ex-bankers Mickey Down and Konrad Kay got their early renewal and a chance to open up Industry to shores anew, going to places the HBO/BBC show has never gone to before. No longer can it really fit into the neat box of "financial drama" because, while we certainly still have one major foot in that world this season, these new episodes are all about taking risks and opening up the parameters of what people think Industry (and its characters) are capable of.

Those gilet-clad previous seasons were contained within the walls of Pierpoint & Co, a prestigious investment bank in London that chewed up and spat out our plucky group of grads in season 1.

Now, only two of them remain with Harper (Myha'la) and Yasmin (Marisa Abela) returning for their own positively twisty stories.

But with Pierpoint having reached its own demise and being bought by Egyptian investors at the end of season 3, where exactly does Industry go for this new run of episodes? The right question would be – having watched the entire series – is where does it not go.

Shrugging off the walls of Pierpoint means that Industry can broach ground it's never really done so before. Nothing is ever luxuriated on for too long in this series but its whip-smart ability to discuss politics, race, class, wealth and everything in between continues to be masterful. It takes a keen eye and even better writing to be able to aptly personify the ways in which class continues to have such a grasp on the UK, but throw in a slew of topics that seem as though they've been plucked from recent headlines and we head into incredibly juicy territory.

I'm sure the exploration of politics, growing far-right sentiment and Harper's recognition of being a "puppet in Blackface" (as she puts it to new boss Otto Mostyn) won't go down well with all viewers. But I'll hazard a guess and bet that those that get antsy about current affairs likely wouldn't be tuning into a hair-raising show like Industry anyway.

At times, while it may seem as though there may be random instances of exploring these topics (i.e with Kiernan Shipka's Haley telling Charlie Heaton's James: "My boyfriend will be home soon, he's big – and he's f**king Black! You know what it means b***h!"), it really is just a reflection of the modern-day zeitgeist and, along with the intersections of wealth, privilege and power, form a kaleidoscope that sets into focus the deeper we get into the series.

Moving into the world of politics also may not be a welcome development for some fans, even a little triggering for many. But if you think about it, the outside world has always had an impact on the events of Industry. It is, quite literally, what the financial industry is all about after all. It comes as no surprise then that Yasmin finds herself on the precipice of that world and all it can afford, with her dutiful husband Henry (Kit Harington, who also delivers his own fair share of scene-stealing material this season) just seeming to try his best to live up to her expectations.

But really, it's Tender, the payment processor company, which lies at the heart of this season. They have plans to become a brand new bank, but it's a big move for a shiny company, especially one with ties to controversial OnlyFans-style app Siren, which has gotten people talking just as an online safety bill has come into play.

Whitney Halberstram (Max Minghella) shows his unguessable hand by the end of the premiere episode, blowing the gates upon on what could be coming next and bringing a suitably enigmatic quality to the entire season that will leave you hooked.

The risk of Industry season 4 is perhaps best personified in the very fact that we don't even spend the first part of the premiere episode with anyone we're familiar with. We're introduced to Shipka and Heaton's mysterious characters; Shipka as an employee at Tender and Heaton as a financial journalist with a bit between his teeth. Nightclubs, drugs and gyrating on a strobey dance floor feel very much like the show we've come to know and love, so much so that as soon as that first hot pink title card for Industry drops, you can't help thinking: "God, we are so back."

While this season of Industry takes its biggest chances yet, the Queens of Industry (aka Harper and Yasmin) are still at it and my goodness, I hope everyone pauses for that opening scene of Harper. Stepping out of a Range Rover, sunglasses on, matching suit ensemble doing all the work and New Order's Fine Time acting as the perfect needle drop really is the ideal return for our antihero. I'm firmly in the camp of fans that love this messy and complicated character, desperately pining for more scenes of her. Thankfully, this season, we've got them.

Harper's arc this season sees her at the top of her game in a way she's not yet experienced, reuniting once more with mentor Eric Tao (Ken Leung). But we also get vignettes into Harper's personal life, through her dynamic with trader Kwabena (Toheeb Jimoh), management of Sweetpea (Miriam Petche) and also in regards to her strained familial relationships. Some of Harper's quietest and arguably forlorn moments in this season are the ones that stand out the most, while the opposite can be said of Abela's Yasmin who thrives in scenes dressed as Marie Antoinette and has an arc that will undoubtedly divide viewers.

But that's all the joy of this new chapter of Industry – it's throwing away the handbook and keeping us all on the edge of our seats in the process. There's plenty within these eight episodes that will leave fans feeling slightly icky or uncomfortable, but Industry has always had a knack of doing that. If anything, they've only excelled further at it this time around.

There's no part of you that will be able to foreshadow what's to come at the end of season 4 and that's the joy of its monumental swings. The show's always been unpredictable in a gloriously uncertain way, but its ability to shift the narrative away from the world of finance and into something wider and darker (namely, interrogating who really calls the shots in a world dominated by power-hungry individuals) is a class A act in storytelling.

By stepping off of the trading floor, Industry can venture into the world that has often stood at the sidelines to the financial deals and drama. Really, it's all the more better for it.

Industry seasons 1-3 are available to stream on BBC iPlayer in the UK, and season 4 premieres on Monday 12th January 2026 on BBC One and BBC iPlayer. The drama airs on HBO in the US.

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