‘Industry’ Star Ken Leung on Harper Bringing Eric From ‘Cozy’ Retirement of Golf and Girls in Season 4 Opener: ‘He Suddenly Needs Her More Than She Needs Him’

SPOILER ALERT: This story contains plot details for “PayPal of Bukkake,” Season 4, Episode 1 of HBO’s “Industry,” now streaming on HBO Max.

In the opening episode of “Industry” Season 4 — which almost serves as creators Mickey Down and Konrad Kay’s mini-reboot of the hit finance drama, with its central bank Pierpoint having shut down at the end of Season 3, and multiple fresh characters introduced — most of the returning faces don’t seem to be having much luck.

For all her newly high-powered wardrobe and dramatic office entrances, Harper (Myha’la) is struggling atop her hedge fund (culminating in one angry investor having a stroke and face-planting a glass desk in her office). Meanwhile, Yasmin (Marisa Abela) is settling into her career pivot as a schmoozing networker for the rich and powerful, but it’s clear there’s trouble back at the manor with her aristocratic hubby Henry (Kit Harington) and whatever honeymoon period they may have enjoyed was short-lived. Meanwhile, Rishi (Sagar Radia), last seen dealing with the shockingly brutal murder of his wife right in front of him, has been reduced to stealing phones in pubs to get inside info he can then flog on.

Only Eric (Ken Leung) appears to be enjoying himself.

Having left Pierpoint with a vastly inflated bank balance, the former baseball bat-swinging sales MD is seen puffing on a cigar as he shoots a round of golf with a couple of fellow finance retirees (and throwing a wave to a red capped golfer in the distance we’re led to believe is Donald Trump). Post-game and back at his plush digs, he relaxes in the garden with a crossword puzzle while being waited on by a young woman in hot pants who clearly does much more than merely serve him beers. The trading floor couldn’t seem further away.

But it takes just one call from Harper for Eric to ditch this supposed life of Riley, fly across the Atlantic and return to the money-making trenches to start a new fund with his former intern (who, let’s not forget, he betrayed in the third season). This time, however, it’s with her very much in charge.

The “power-play,” Leung tells Variety, has “flipped.” As he notes, however, it’s much more than an addiction to the finance world that lures Eric back in.

The relationship between Harper and Eric has been such a central element from the start of the show. How would you describe their trajectory, and what’s led them to this moment where she’s able to bring him back from retirement?

Well, he suddenly needs her more than she needs him. There’s a way where that maybe is obvious, but then there’s a part of it that’s not so obvious. She, I think, represents for him a way to understand his daughter. He has young women in his life that he sleeps with, but he doesn’t really have somebody that he can talk to, get to know, get to understand, trust, or have them trust him. He has nobody like that, except Harper. And suddenly, Harper has reemerged in his life. They have this up and down history. And as far as the power-play, that’s flipped. He maybe sees her as a version of the younger him.

But I think he has a kind of underlying agenda that has to do with his daughter that doesn’t have anything to do with being in business again. It’s not clear how conscious that is. But he starts off the season on the other side of the pond, running away from all of it, hiding from the shadow of [former boss] Bill and all of it, pretending that he has a comfortable, cozy life there. And it doesn’t take very much to bring him right back. So, yeah, I think he has surface agendas and below the surface agendas going on at same time.

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?

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.

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.

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.

Whatever happened to that bat? Part of me wants to think you’ve got it at home in a glass case.

I’m gonna assume it’s with the prop man. But yeah, there’s a part of me that wants to claim it. But then there’s a part of me that likes it like a like a child — so let’s see where you go from here.

When you first joined “Industry,” you were one of very few experienced actors on set. What did it feel like to be surrounded by so much talent doing it for the first time, and seeing them all blossom around you?

They are incredible actors, as you can see. But not just in terms of acting, but the way they carry themselves — it’s very professional but playful at the same time. They’re all very mature actors. I’m very proud of them, but I don’t know if it’s appropriate for me to be proud of them. So, I admire them! I try to learn from them. It’s never been just me sitting on a high chair divvying up advice.

And it’s the same for the creators Mickey Down and Konrad Kay, who hadn’t done anything before but are now not just writing and showrunning “Industry,” but directing as well. Have you felt the maturity grow in the show and where they’ve taken it over four seasons?

Oh yeah, and they’re so daring! Maybe they don’t know enough to be scared of things.

This interview has been edited and condensed.