What is Ambition? The curse of the financial world. At Pierpoint, the prestigious London investment bank that was the setting for the Gen Z banking drama. industryIn Pierpoint, a group of college graduates compete for money and power. Harper (Mihala), Yasmin (Marisa Abela) and Rob (Harry Lawty) are desperate to prove they belong here, that they have the guts to survive on the battlefield of the trading floor, but Pierpoint is a special kind of hell. Ambition is useless as long as you’re willing to lie, cheat and outwit your way to the top. Ambition can easily open doors, but it can also easily betray you.
“If you look at the long list of things they’ve done and what they did to get to where they are, they’re pretty evil people,” co-creator Mickey Down says of the beloved characters, but their clever deceptions are the reason we watch. industry show of the season, becoming the internet’s new meme machine and inspiring some expected but flawed comparisons. Inheritanceanother HBO supernova. industry It’s a unique beast.
Now in its third season, it’s its boldest and most anxiety-filled yet. industry It occupies the precious time slot of 9pm on Sunday night. game of thrones and Soporno It’s the show that many of us fell in love with when it premiered in 2020 and still do, full of ego and heart and reckless ambition, except Down and co-creator Conrad Kaye have upped the ante this time around, charting the sinister and deeply connected relationships spanning the media, politics and finance of London’s privileged elite.
The next episode this week is nicely titled “White Mischief.” Uncut gemstones Rejoice, this one’s just for you, marking the season’s midpoint. Down and Kaye spoke to me over Zoom from their respective London homes about where the show has been so far and where it might go next.
Jason Parham: I read that your original pitch for this season was “Coke and Boats.” What was HBO’s response?
Mickey Down: We had a big picture view of what this season was going to be like in terms of the business storyline. And we thought we shouldn’t be afraid to have a few genre elements in the show. We had already discussed Yasmin’s father, and we thought that was one of the most interesting parts of season two. There was this idea that her father had gone missing and she was the one taking the brunt of it in the media. All of that was there. We just hadn’t decided how we were going to show that yet. So we thought, what if there was a second timeline that had a bit of a mystery element to it, what if we started the show from there? So we sent HBO an email with the subject line “Cocaine and Boats” and said that’s where we wanted to start the show.
can’t believe it.
MD: We said we would love to revisit this timeline at a point that felt right to us, to slowly tell a little more about what really happened on board, and their response has been very positive.
The show is constantly pushing the envelope: erect penises, ejaculation scenes, crazy yacht parties, drugs of all kinds. Has HBO ever asked you to back off the show?
