HBO Gives 'Industry' a Surprise Renewal for Season 4

Since Industry's producers announced the show would add Kit Harington (Game of Thrones) as the main arc guest star for Season 3, it's been hard to ignore how much the show was heading for an early cancelation. The series, which initially debuted in November 2020 on HBO and HBO Max during the AT&T years, was given zero marketing in the States, operating under the highly foolish "if we stream it, they will magically find it" assumption of the incompetent powers that be.

The show spent its first two seasons treated like an afterthought by the network's various owners; when Season 2 debuted in August 2022, Warner Bros. Discovery had taken over HBO and the now-rechristened Max but continued to give the BBC co-production zero support. Adding Harington, who is a household name in America due to starring on Game of Thrones for a decade on HBO, was a bold move to get viewers attention, especially with an ad blitz hyping Harington's role that ran alongside the second season of the GoT prequel House of the Dragon.

The ploy worked, and finally, Industry has reached sleeper-hit status. Viewership showed a dramatic increase, up 60% from Season 2's debut two years prior, and growing week over week until it finally began to bring in over a million viewers per episode. Despite Season 3's finale being written so that it could play as a series finale if the show were canceled, HBO announced the renewal in mid-September, with the show still having two more installments.