“Was really fun”: Industry’s Ken Leung talks about exploring more of Eric’s family in Season 4 of HBO’s financial thriller

Industry returns for Season 4 with a premiere that throws the old world of Pierpoint trading into a new, risk-soaked setting. The episode, titled “PayPal of Bukkake,” opens a fresh chapter for the financial drama as the characters move beyond their old jobs and alliances.

This year, Industry expands its world with new players, bigger stakes, and a shift toward fintech, power struggles, and personal revisits. In the midst of all this, Ken Leung’s Eric Tao finds himself pulled back into the finance world in ways fans never expected, partly thanks to Harper.

Industry: Ken Leung on Eric, family, and new layers

In an interview with Variety, Ken Leung says playing Eric in Industry Season 4 was “really fun” because it let the show explore parts of the character we’ve never seen. In past seasons, we saw Eric at work and glimpsed a fractured personal life, but we never met his family. Now that changes.

Leung explains that Harper’s return to Industry isn’t just about finance for Eric. She gives him a way to understand his daughter and himself in a new light. The dynamics flip this season: Harper holds power, and Eric’s pull toward the world they left feels as much emotional as professional.

Variety asked the actor:

You mentioned Eric’s daughter. We’ve found out little elements about his life outside of work previously, but in Season 4, with Pierpoint gone and Eric outside of the bank, much more is revealed. What’s been the most interesting element of him to discover?

To which Leung responded:

"Across the whole previous three seasons we’ve followed him at work, and we’ve gotten glimpses of his family life and how that falls apart. Even the falling apart, we’ve only gotten glimpses of. We’ve seen the effects of it, and have been able to make certain assumptions, but we’ve never really met his family. And so with the ending of Season 3, I kind of felt like a circle was closed, and that if the character was to evolve, then a new circle needed to be opened. And we spoke a little bit about that, me, Mickey and Konrad. And so what came of that was in Season 4 we meet one of his daughters, and get to see how he deals with it directly. And that was really fun, because I never thought we would go down that route ever, just because of the way things were going, based on the show, what it’s about and the world that it inhabits. I never thought I’d get to see that part of Eric. And so this season was surprising, and also really great, because you meet a whole different part of somebody when you go home with them."

“PayPal of Bukkake” recap: Old Meets New

The Industry season 4 premiere drops us into the chaos of London’s finance scene, but it doesn’t start with the usual desk chatter. Harper Stern arrives in a powerful suit and high heels, showing she’s the boss now at a fund backed by Otto Mostyn.

But control feels shaky right away. Her big idea, gating a struggling fund, backfires when investors freak out, and she ends up face-planting through glass in her office.

Harper’s mix of finance moves and bravado starts to make friends uneasy, especially under Mostyn’s watch. Meanwhile, Harper’s call to Eric changes everything in Industry. She reaches out after his family office pulls funds, and this call pulls him out of retirement, cigars and golf be damned, back into the thick of the money game.

Their talk gets personal fast. It’s not just business. Eric admits his “retired life” didn’t deliver the peace he expected, and something about Harper still draws him in. Elsewhere, Yasmin shows up at a high-end event, juggling her social life and a complicated marriage with Henry Muck.

New fintech players like Whitney and Jonah start to press into the story of Industry, while journalists sniff around for fraud at Tender. The episode ends with Eric back in London and the start of a shaky partnership and possibly something more with Harper.

The world after Pierpoint

Season 3 ended with Pierpoint’s demise, which looked like a full stop. But Season 4 treats that ending more like a comma. Losing Pierpoint pushes the characters into new territory instead of burying them. They chase opportunities with fintech, media, and global finance angles. Harper’s rise and fall, Yasmin’s social tightening, and Rishi’s unpredictable path all find fresh ground once the old empire is gone.

Variety asked Leung about the previous season:

"At the end of Season 3, Eric throws his famous bat in the shuttered Pierpoint office, and he has that final call with Harper. The whole season felt like it was closing a circle with all the main characters, but perhaps with Eric more than the others."

The actor shared details about the final scene.

"I think the throwing of that famous bat is interesting, because sure, it can be interpreted as an ending. And it would be a fine ending. But at the point it could also be easily seen as him metaphorically throwing it all away. And I mean, that is the point when a story begins. So it equally can be seen as the beginning. I think it’s really interesting that he does that."

Why Eric’s return matters

Industry makes it clear he’s been hiding, not from finance, but from his own regrets and unresolved family ties. His home life and relationship with his daughter become a new layer, giving him more depth than the “old guard banker” label. Leung says filming those scenes offered fresh sides of the character and reminded everyone that you only really meet someone when you see them at home.

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Industry Season 4 leans harder into big ideas such as power, wealth, tech, and politics, but keeps its heart in personal relationships. Characters who once chased status now face consequences of their choices, both professionally and personally.

Harper and Eric’s renewed partnership could be business only or something far more complex. And as new players like Whitney, Jonah, and the fintech world of Tender shake up old patterns, we start asking different questions about ambition and loyalty.

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