‘Industry' star Marisa Abela on her breakout Season 3: ‘It answers many questions about why Yasmin is the way she is'

Yahoo

16-05-2025

The acclaimed ensemble cast of HBO's cult finance drama Industry got upgraded with Season 3 thanks to the additions of Emmy nominees Kit Harington and Sarah Goldberg in key roles. However, the show's original cast continued to shine surprisingly and unexpectedly, including Season 3 breakout Marisa Abela.
The actress, who recently won Best Drama Actress at the BAFTA TV and Craft Awards for her performance, plays Yasmin Kara-Hanani on Industry, a nepo baby introduced in Season 1 as someone who used her privilege to move through life without consequences. However, in Season 3, the fallacy of that fortune is laid bare, and the character's key relationships — including with her father, Charles (Adam Levy); her best friend, Harper (Myha'la); and the man she truly loves, Robert (Harry Lawtey) — are dissected across eight emotional episodes.
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Ahead, Abela, who stole scenes in Steven Soderbergh's recent thriller Black Bag opposite Oscar winner Cate Blanchett and Oscar nominee Michael Fassbender, talks to Gold Derby about her acclaimed performance.
In Season 3, Yasmin is the center of the narrative in a way that she hadn't been previously. So, when you got that material from creators Mickey Down and Konrad Kay, how gratifying was that for you?
Getting to know Yasmin more was exciting, but specifically, how it was done this season excited me most. We were sent the episodes in the same way that you see them. So, once I started reading Episodes 1 and 2, I needed to speak to Mickey and Konrad about what she was hiding or what had happened on that boat. Because I didn't know what it was. What's great about Season 3 for Yasmin is that it answers many questions about why Yasmin is the way she is. We've known that Yasmin is a woman with immense privilege, monetarily. But she is not privileged regarding the love she's been afforded or the safety in her relationships, especially with her father. So I think that being able to explore the side of her relationships that are cold and hard and difficult in relationships, blows Yas wide open into what it is that we're willing to understand about the aspects and decisions that she then makes in Episodes 7 and 8 with regard Henry (Kit Harington) and Robert (Harry Lawtey), make more sense to us.
Are the things we learn about Yas and the abusive relationship she has with her father stuff you had assumed about the character?
I wasn't exactly sure, but from Season 1, I was conversing with Mickey and Konrad about what it was she was going through with her relationships to men, whether that was Robert or Kenny, her boss. We discussed that Yas is a woman who sees herself through the male gaze; that's the validation she's most looking for. And that has to come from her relationship with her father. We would talk about the fact that her father probably made her aware of her body. He was perhaps the first person to make her aware. And I wasn't sure if that was just her dad telling her, 'You should probably think about getting a bra.' I didn't know what that specifically looked like. But I knew that was why she was the way she was with men. So it crystallized that when we met him in Season 2, he was predatory in one way or another. And then obviously, in Season 3, it's overt and there are fewer questions.
The scenes between you and Adam Levy, who plays Charles, especially on the yacht, are so upsetting and violent. He throws wine in Yasmin's face. How do you prepare for those kinds of fraught sequences?
Working with him in Season 2 was incredibly useful. The fact that we already have a foundation of a relationship as characters and actors helps. We were extremely trusting of one another, and I think you need that as actors in a space without trust and safety for the characters. It's beneficial to have it with your sort of fellow actor. But I think the wine throw is the most horrible thing. He's such a child, and Yasmin's not safe on that boat. And I think what Mickey and Konrad have done well with all that boat stuff makes him somewhat … I don't want to say he's a villain, because I don't think that's what it is. I don't think what they're doing is saying, 'We completely understand why Yasmine lets her father kind of drown.' Because I don't think you necessarily know where it's going, but you start to feel like this is not good and will not end well for one of them. They do a really good job of making it so that there's nowhere to come back from in those arguments, so that by the time he does jump, we think as an audience can't imagine how Yasmin will find it in herself right now to save her father after everything that's just happened.
When he jumps and Yasmin freezes, it feels like something is happening in real-time for you as an actor. Can you talk about how you approached that part of your performance?
As an actor, I think about things and work to play what my character wants, and how she will get it. How is she going to play the other people around her to get what it is that she wants from them? So, I think that's the hardest thing when you're playing a character who doesn't know what she wants right now, because it can lack specifics. So that was one of the times when I didn't want to rehearse. But, when he jumps and she tells Harper that he's jumped, those were two times where I was really like, I don't know what's gonna happen. Let's see.
You mentioned Harper. You and Myha'la have been so great together; this season, Yasmin and Harper have their biggest confrontation yet. How did you think about that moment and building to that part of their relationship?
It's another incredibly emotionally charged scene. Yasmin is outraged when Harper comes in, and Harper is not. And I think that's an excellent dramatic situation. Yasmin knows she's about to argue with Harper, and Harper doesn't know. So you've got two people in a very different situation walking into the room, and she lays it out for Harper precisely. She doesn't say, 'I'm furious at you because of this.' When she first comes in, she asks, 'Why did you do that on the boat? Why did I think you loved me?' If Harper has no idea what is coming, there is so much anger there, but it's so much hurt for Yasmin and for Harper, too. I think it was a great scene. It was so fun to do. I love working with Myha'la. I think she's a fantastic actress, and Yasmin and Harper know each other so well now that they know what buttons to push, to hurt one another. Myha'la and I know each other so well now as actors. So I know, Yasmin might shout, and Harper might not, but how they fight is different. So, I think it's a great scene. It was really well written and fun to play.
The characters don't reconnect until the season finale, when Yasmin invites Harper to her wedding and they get on the phone together. This is a fresh start in some ways for Yasmin, marrying Henry and getting the brass ring. What do you think Yas is trying to get out of her relationship with Harper now?
Yasmin is trying to reinvent herself completely right now. She has decided to be like the Lady of the Manor, and that's it. And like anyone from her old life who doesn't see her that way, she doesn't want to know. We've seen Yasmin build up an intense amount of armor from Season 1. I mean, she's incredibly vulnerable in Season 1. And you know, the end of Episode 8, where she's confronted with some understanding from one of the women Charles exploited, she walks out of the room and says, 'Get rid of her.' She's a very hard woman now, and I think she's built up all of these walls. Anyone left inside those walls feels vulnerable because everyone new in her life only sees the facade she created for herself. But now and then, it's comforting to know that someone knows you, the real you, and Harper is that person for Yasmin. She sees her, she knows who she is. They're kind of like sisters, in a way. I think it's very good that they both slapped each other, because I think in a way, it made it even easier to come back to a relationship. If Yasmin had smacked Harper and then Harper had gotten up and walked away, it would have been a different phone call. But there's safety in there, both safety and an intense amount of vulnerability, and the fact that Harper sees Yasmin,
The third season also concludes Yasmin's relationship with Robert, a beautiful and heartbreaking end to their story. How did you and Harry approach those scenes in the finale?
If Season 3 had been Season 1, I don't think anyone would have cared that much about their relationship. But the arc of all three seasons makes the kind of rise and fall of that relationship in Season 3 so heartbreaking. And you can't help but be influenced as an actor by your history with these characters. We don't have to do much anymore, because Yasmin and Robert exist. They have a relationship and want to be loved by the other. I think it's such a pure thing. And I think it's one of the only pure things Yasmin has left in the show — if she could accept that love from Robert and work together. She might be happy, but it's just too uncertain for her. But I think that moment, then when she does decide at the dinner table, when Henry (Kit Harington) announces that they're engaged, there was just nothing that needed to be said. We just did all the work over three seasons. So it was heartbreaking to watch, even for me, because they also put that montage in the three seasons of Yas and Robert. And it was sad. I felt for Yasmin and Robert in that moment.
What are your hopes for Yasmin as you head into Season 4?
They're so imaginative, and the places they go are beyond what I would expect, so I have no idea what's gonna happen. But, I mean, I'm really excited to see it as an actor. I'm always curious to see how they'll weave our storylines together. What does Yasmin and Harper's relationship look like now? But I'm also excited to see what Yasmin's married life in Somerset looks like.
Industry streams on Max.
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