But series creators Mickey Down and Konrad Kay say they were \u201cpleasantly surprised\u201d by the reaction to the first eight episodes, a version of the show they believed \u201chad a lot of potential\u201d that it never quite fulfilled.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re very much our own worst critics,\u201d Kay told RadioTimes.com<\/a>\u00a0in an exclusive interview, adding that he and Down were eager to \u201ctell better stories\u201d against the backdrop of cutthroat finance.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cThe first season was big on vibe, character, had some good dialogue, some fun sex, [and] had an overall aesthetic which maybe felt like a bit of a breath of fresh air, which is maybe why people reacted so positively to it,\u201d Kay said. \u201cBut we thought, as the writers of the show, we could tell more exciting, thrilling, corporate intrigue [and] corporate politics stories within that space.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cThe show\u2019s about power on some level, and there\u2019s no reason why we couldn\u2019t have a bit of a Game of Thrones-y, \u2018Who\u2019s gonna take whose seat?\u2019 kind of feel to it.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n The biggest lesson the pair learnt after tackling the show\u2019s debut was, Kay said, \u201cto have a more powerful story engine and to burn through more story quicker\u201d.<\/p> \u201cBy the time you\u2019ve watched the first three episodes of season 2, I think you\u2019ll find that there\u2019s\u2026 and I don\u2019t mean this in a pejorative way, but there\u2019s just more plot,\u201d Kay continued.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cSo therefore all the watchability factor of season 1 is there: the actors have actually improved off a very high base, the soundtrack is very similar, I think we\u2019ve upped the directorial style\u2026 and I just think me and Mickey, we were very inexperienced coming into season 1. Between season 1 and season 2, the learning curve was so steep that we had no choice, really, but to sprint up.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cI think the show has benefited massively from me and Mickey learning between season 1 and season 2 what [the show] was and how to write it.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Though the talented, sharp-witted but flawed Harper Stern (Myha\u2019la Herrold) remains arguably the show\u2019s lead character, Down and Kay identified two other figures among the show\u2019s sizeable ensemble cast that they wanted to showcase in the second season.<\/p>\n \u201cWe wanted to see more of Yasmin,\u201d Down said. \u201cWe felt as a a character that she was slightly underserved in season 1 and we love writing her \u2013 she feels like a really true representation of a certain kind of person in London, and Marisa Abela who plays her is just a truly phenomenal actress.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cObviously, Harper was going to be the beating heart of the show in some respects, so focusing the story through those two women felt like a no brainer for season 2.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Alongside\u2019s Abela\u2019s <\/span>enterprising, privileged graduate, Harper\u2019s unpredictable mentor Eric (Ken Leung) also gets an expanded role.<\/p>\n \u201cKen, who plays Eric, was just an untapped resource in season 1,\u201d Down added. \u201cWe had this amazing actor that we weren\u2019t using enough and who has a relationship with our main character which felt like it was sort of bedrock of the show, and we just wanted to see more of him.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n The writing duo \u2013 whose own backgrounds working in the financial sector as graduates partly inspired Industry \u2013 might have had their own ideas about what a second season would tackle, but the unexpected arrival of a global pandemic also ended up shaping the new episodes in ways they couldn\u2019t have predicted.<\/p>\n Kay said it was \u201ca big thing\u201d deciding how heavily to feature in the COVID-19 in season 2 \u2013 which does, ultimately, begin with the traders at Pierpoint and Co returning to their offices after a long break, while a major new character, Jesse Bloom (played by Jay Duplass), is a hedge fund manager who made a huge profit from the pandemic.<\/p>\n \u201cTo omit it would have felt very strange from a contemporary workplace drama \u2013 we were saying that we were dealing with contemporary workplace issues, contemporary banking storylines, so you can\u2019t just ignore the biggest thing,\u201d Kay said.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cBut the time elapsing between when you write something and when you shoot something and when it airs can be 18 months, s<\/span>o you\u2019re trying to predict the future a little bit.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Though the immediate impact of the pandemic isn\u2019t explored, the events of the previous two years cast a shadow over the new Industry \u201cas a kind of psychological trauma or non-trauma that all of the characters have been through\u201d \u2013 though, of course, each of the cast has experienced a different kind of pandemic.<\/span><\/p>\n Yasmin, we learn in episode 4, spent her time in lockdown becoming \u201cobsessed with finding the perfect white pyjamas\u201d, while Harper\u2019s anxiety leads her to initially fight back against a return to the office.<\/p>\n Kay explained: \u201cShe\u2019s using it actually as an excuse to not have to deal with some of the consequences of her decisions in season 1 \u2013 in a way, it\u2019s been very bad for her, but she\u2019s loved being hermetically sealed into a hotel room, because she can just do her job and not have to deal with anybody.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cSo with all these little things, we thought if it can somehow be built into the character, it can feel super interesting. But the actual work storylines and the plot, we always had a hard and fast rule in the writers room where they were not going to be pandemic-led. It\u2019s sort of pandemic adjacent.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Industry season 2 begins tonight at 10:40pm on BBC One and is available to watch in full now on BBC iPlayer<\/a>.\u00a0<\/strong>Check out more of our\u00a0Drama<\/a>\u00a0coverage or visit our\u00a0TV Guide<\/a>\u00a0to see what\u2019s on tonight.<\/strong><\/p>\n The latest issue of Radio Times magazine is on sale now \u2013\u00a0<\/strong>subscribe now<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0and get the next 12 issues for only \u00a31. For more from the biggest stars in TV, listen to the\u00a0<\/strong>Radio Times podcast<\/strong><\/a> with Jane Garvey.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div><\/body><\/html>\n By Morgan Jeffery Published: Tuesday, 27 September 2022 at 12:00 am The first season of Industry was a bona-fide hit when it launched in late 2020, with its story of fiercely ambitious young graduates competing at a prestigious London investment bank \u2013 pitched somewhere between Succession and Skins \u2013\u00a0sparking an obsessive following amongst fans. But […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":22712,"template":"","categories":[5],"acf":[],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/09\/industry-writers-say-season-2-is-better-after-learning-curve-of-debut.jpg",768,513,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/09\/industry-writers-say-season-2-is-better-after-learning-curve-of-debut-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/09\/industry-writers-say-season-2-is-better-after-learning-curve-of-debut-300x200.jpg",300,200,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/09\/industry-writers-say-season-2-is-better-after-learning-curve-of-debut.jpg",768,513,false],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/09\/industry-writers-say-season-2-is-better-after-learning-curve-of-debut.jpg",768,513,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/09\/industry-writers-say-season-2-is-better-after-learning-curve-of-debut.jpg",768,513,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/09\/industry-writers-say-season-2-is-better-after-learning-curve-of-debut.jpg",768,513,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"By Morgan Jeffery Published: Tuesday, 27 September 2022 at 12:00 am The first season of Industry was a bona-fide hit when it launched in late 2020, with its story of fiercely ambitious young graduates competing at a prestigious London investment bank \u2013 pitched somewhere between Succession and Skins \u2013\u00a0sparking an obsessive following amongst fans. But…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/22711"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/rss_feed"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22712"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22711"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22711"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"""\"](\""https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/3\/2022\/06\/marisa-abela-industry-season-2-5eed672.jpg?quality=90&crop=10px%2C11px%2C1260px%2C839px&resize=620%2C413"\" "\\"\"\"\\"\/")
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