Inside ‘Industry’: Ken Leung on HBO’s Most Underrated Masterpiece

Obsessed: The Podcast

The Daily Beast

Tv & Film

4.5 • 686 Ratings

🗓️ 26 February 2026

⏱️ 40 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

On this episode of Obsessed The Podcast, host Matt Wilstein breaks down the addictive chaos of Industry, the buzzy HBO and BBC drama about ambition, power, and toxic workplace culture in high finance. He’s joined first by Emma Fraser to unpack the season’s biggest twists and what makes the series such a nerve-shredding watch. Then, Wilstein sits down with star Ken Leung, who opens up about playing the volatile Eric Tao, the psychology behind his performance, and how the show captures the brutal intensity of the trading floor. Leung also shares the story of how he nearly tanked the audition for his breakout performance on The Sopranos and explains why he most certainly will not be reprising his role in the Trump-demanded Rush Hour 4. Follow Kevin Fallon on Instagram @kpfallon Follow Matt Wilstein on Instagram @mattjwilstein New episodes every Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday; early drops on YouTube. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello and welcome to Obsess the podcast.
0:05.4	I'm Matt Wilstein from The Daily Beast, and today on the show, we are talking all about
0:09.8	one of my absolute favorite shows on television right now, HBO's industry.
0:14.9	In just a little bit, you're going to hear my interview with Ken Lung, who plays Eric Tau on the
0:20.3	show, and is such a great actor who you
0:22.5	might know from Lost, he had a great episode of The Sopranos, and we also talk in our interview
0:27.8	about his very early performance in the film Rush Hour. But first, I'm going to be joined by a fellow
0:33.7	industry expert fan lover, our very great contributor to The Daily Beast.
0:41.7	Please welcome to the show, Emma Fraser.
0:43.9	Hello, I'm glad to be here.
0:45.9	Thanks for being here, Emma.
0:47.1	I think people last heard you on the show talking about Hamnet.
0:51.4	So you're kind of becoming our British movie and TV correspondent. Is that right?
0:57.4	Yeah, I think it's like, I mean, I'm glad to be able to put my actual nationality to use.
1:02.7	And it's fun with a show like this that is kind of, it's half American, well, probably more British
1:07.5	than American, but there's definitely a lot of British elements to it.
1:11.3	Yeah, that was going to be one of my questions for you. Is this a British show industry?
1:14.9	Because it takes place mostly in London, but several of the actors on it are American,
1:21.4	the characters are American, and sort of they've added more as it's gone along as well. So,
1:26.2	so what do you think? Is it a British show? It kind of feels
1:29.3	more like an HBO show to me. So even though it is a co-production with the BBC, it definitely
1:34.5	feels more HBO than BBC, despite the many Brit elements. So I think it's like a marriage of both
	...

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