Enough dragons; it’s time to face bankers

Kit Harington has sort of been here before – in a sprawling HBO series, filled with ambitious souls straining for power.
This time, however, there are fewer dragons and less danger. Banks are like that.
His first film role, as Jon Snow in “Game of Thrones,” flung him into stardom. Now Harington (shown here, right) joins “Industry,” which is set in the upper-tier world of British banking. It starts its third season at 9 p.m. Sunday (Aug. 11) on HBO and Max.
He’s Sir Henry Muck, CEO of a tech firm. The role is “very much about the British class system,” said Harington, who grew up in upper-class comfort.
“I’ve known a lot of people like Henry,” he said. “He can’t see his own privilege. Within that little gilded cage, these horrific things have happened …. In this place of privilege, he’s deeply, deeply unhappy.”
And the banker he knows has opposite roots. Robert (Harry Lawley, left) is an Oxford grad, but has a working-class, Welsh background. The upper-income and lower-income folks, Harington said, “tend to join forces … in their hatred of the middle class.”
Some of “Industry” springs from the experience of its creators. Mickey Down and Konrad Kay were friends in college, then reluctantly became bankers. Down only lasted a year – “I wish I’d liked it more when I was actually in it” – and Kay lasted three-and-a-half. The world there was diverse, as is this duo. (Down is Black, Kay is white.)
This field involves all sorts of ethnic groups, said Sagar Radia, who plays Rishi. The London banking scene has “a big South Asian diaspora.”
“Industry” focused first on two contrasting women:
— Yasmin Kara-Hanani is from a prosperous Lebanese family. She speaks six languages and until recently simply shared her father’s bank account. “For the first time, she kind of needs the job,” said Marisa Abela, who plays her.
— Harper Stern is a Black American who had a panic attack during her final exams, walked out and faked her college transcript. Now that she’s been exposed, she’s at “the lowest of lows for her,” said Myha’la, who plays her. “She’s a desk assistant, keeping a diary and taking calls.” She’s also newly intense about advancing. “That’s a huge step from the first season, when she just had fun and flirted with the guys.”
Surrounding them are a rich assortment of characters. Harington recalls his delight as a viewer when “a guy in the background just runs into a glass wall.”
And viewers were surprised to learn that Eric (Harper’s mentor) isn’t using his given name. “That was kind of my idea,” said Ken Leung, who plays him. It turns out that “Eric” is taken from the middle of the character’s middle name, which is “America.”