In flexibility the atmosphere of Industryall debts must be paid.
In Sunday night’s third episode, “Infinite Largesse,” no one understood that better than Rishi (Sagar Radia), whose gambling addiction finally caught up with him.
(Spoiler alert: The following contains spoilers for Industry’s third season finale.)
Rishi, for those who didn’t know, spent most of last season drowning in debt. As the ending concludes, Industry gave him one of the biggest episode full of revelations when his bookie, Vinay, reveals and kills Rishi’s wife over £600,000 in unpaid gambling debts. It was the kind of sad moment that got HBO nominated for Sunday night TV—and, according to creators Mickey Down and Konrad Kay, HBO almost ended it.
“There was a discussion about the death of Rishi’s wife, which HBO did not like,” said Kay.
Early on, as Down and Kay described season 3, they knew they wanted to do a Rishi episode, which fans were treated to in episode 4, “White Mischief.” Shot as a way of honor Uncut gemsit was then that viewers got a taste of the real Rishi, who, it turns out, was a gambler with a dangerous appetite for danger, drugs, and women.
“We first wrote it with a bow at the end of it,” said Down. “He is leaving his position, he has survived the market. He then asks his wife to pay his bill and calls his phone, doubling it. We really didn’t think we’d be coming back to this. We thought, OK, we’re going to show the results of this somehow? “
But HBO saw potential in it and advised the creators to return to Rishi later in the season. “They said, we have to show what happened to him.” It presented a unique challenge for Down and Kay. “How can you really show that there are consequences to your actions in this world and that you can’t just talk about everything?”
When they came up with the idea that it would be Diana, Rishi’s wife, who ended up paying for Rishi’s financial misfortunes, HBO backed off. But Down and Kay knew better.
“At the script stage, HBO wanted to get rid of it,” Kay said. “We said, look, let’s shoot and show you. And we shot it and cut it to show them. And they were like, ‘This is fun.’ We received very few notes. What you see at the end of the season is very close to the first cut of this episode.”
At first, this place was different. “We were like, what if the boy shoots Rishi?” Down continues. “Personally, and really, we wanted Rishi in season four. But the saddest thing is that his wife who is the victim of all this is the one who is burdened. And those are the consequences he has to live with.”
But by killing Diana, Down and Kay feel it will provide the perfect setup for the next season. (HBO renewed Industry after WIRED’s interview with the runners.)
Their instincts proved correct. As the finale aired on Sunday, reactions online were swift, fans posted Successionesque responses to the show’s many changes in fortune.
“Industry It’s great because they keep moving forward. Mickey and Konrad aren’t at all afraid to put characters in ways they can easily undo for ease of editing. this is top notch storytelling,” @lesliezye posted on X following the finale.
Added @cinnaMENA, “From Rishi’s boyfriend’s sad scene to Yasmin’s house collapse I’m—I’m blown away.”
For Down and Kay, it was all about elevating the storyline to new heights. “That core shakes when something seismic happens,” Down says of his crafty characters. “And having your wife shot in front of you to pay off a gambling debt is tragic, which means that Rishi in season four will be a completely different character than he was in season three and before.”