HBO almost cut the most shocking scene of the ‘Industry’ season finale
In volatility universe of IndustryAll debts must be paid.
No one understands that better than Rishi (Sagar Radia), whose gambling addiction finally caught up with him in Sunday night’s third season finale, “Infinite Largesse,”
(Spoiler alert: The following contains spoilers for Industry’third season finale.)
Rishi, for those unfamiliar, spent much of last season falling into debt. When the finale ended, Industry gave him one of the biggest twists of the revealing episode when his bookie, Vinay, appeared and murdered Rishi’s wife over £600,000 over unpaid gambling debts. It was the heartbreaking moment that doomed HBO’s Sunday night TV date — and, according to creators Mickey Down and Konrad Kay, HBO almost ended it.
“There was a conversation about the death of Rishi’s wife, which HBO objected to,” Kay said.
From the beginning, when Down and Kay drafted season 3, they knew they wanted to do a Rishi episode, which fans got to see in episode 4, “White Mischief.” Shot as an homage to Uncut gemsIt was there that viewers got a taste of the real Rishi, who turned out to be a gambler with a dangerous passion for drugs, women and thrill-seeking.
“First we wrote it with a bow at the end,” Down said. “He left his position and was saved by the market. Then he asked his wife to repay the debt and then he called, the amount doubled. We really don’t think we’ll go back to this. We thought, okay, can we show the consequences of this in some way?”
But HBO saw potential in it and advised the creators to reshoot the aftermath of “White Mischief” later in the season. “They said, we have to show what happens to him.” It presents a unique challenge for Down and Kay. “How can you really show that your actions in this world have consequences and you can’t just talk your way through things?”
When they came up with the idea that Rishi’s wife Diana would ultimately pay for his financial misfortunes, HBO objected. But Down and Kay knew better.
“At the scripting stage, HBO wanted to get rid of it,” Kay said. “Then we said, look, let us shoot it and show it to you. And we filmed it and cut it and showed it to them. And they said, ‘This is amazing.’ We received very few notes. What you see in the season finale is pretty close to the first cut of that episode.”
Initially, the scene played out differently. “We thought, what if that guy shot Rishi?” Continue down. “Personally and practically, we want Rishi in season four. But even more heartbreaking, his wife, the victim of all this, is the one who bears the heaviest consequences. And those are the consequences that he then has to live with.”
But by killing off Diana, Down and Kay felt it would provide the perfect setup for the next season. (HBO renew Industry following WIRED’s interview with the hosts.)
Their instincts proved correct. When the finale aired on Sunday, online reaction was swift, with fans posting Inheritance-esque reacts to the show’s many lucky twists.
“Industry It’s good that they keep moving forward. Mickey and Konrad are absolutely unafraid to take characters down paths they can’t easily undo for plot convenience. This is storytelling at its finest,” @lesliezye posted on X after the finale.
Added @cinnaMENA, “From Rishi’s sad celibacy to Yasmin’s country house farewell, I—I’m so emotional.”
For Down and Kay, it’s all about taking the plot to the next level. “That core gets shaken when something seismic happens,” Down says of his scheming characters. “And having your wife shot right in front of you to settle a gambling debt is seismic, which means that Rishi in series four will be a completely different character than he was in series three and before there.”
