Why Playing Yasmin In Industry Is Such A Treat For Marisa Abela

In order to maintain a competitive advantage, streaming services these days aren't just providing a platform for people to stream classic TV shows, movies, and current series from major cable TV networks. Many of them — from Netflix to AppleTV + to Hulu and more — are coming up with their own original programming for subscribers to enjoy. One such show, which is exclusive to the HBO Max, is "Industry," a series about twentysomethings trying to find success and fortune in one of Britain's most competitive financial institutions. The first season debuted back in 2020, and the long-awaited second season premiered earlier this month to strong reviews. It still has a solid 7/10 star rating on IMDb as fans wait to find out whether there could potentially be a season 3 in the works.

On the show, Marisa Abela (who some gamers may recognize as Maya from "Five Dates") plays Yasmin Kara-Hanani. She's a young woman whose skills and capabilities are often overshadowed by her good looks, rich family, and previous history of success — so much so that she often struggles to get others to take her seriously. The actor got to elaborate more on this during a TV Insider interview from December of 2020 with the show's main cast, where she gushed about the one specific reason that playing her character is so satisfying.

"What's great about getting to play a part like that in a show that's this clever is none of these characters fall into the stereotypes that they could quite easily fall into, and I think that was a privilege for all of us," Abela explained. "One of the amazing things about reading the script is being surprised by your character a lot of the time, and I think I have that with Yasmin."

One of Abela's characters' most surprising qualities is how passionately polarized many fans are by her character's actions and behavior. Verbose, oratorial threads like this one about seeing through Yasmin's veneer coexist on the forums right alongside posts which praise Yasmin and claim that she is underrated. In the comments, it's surprising how often these exchanges lead to heated and lengthy intellectual discourse on the subject. It appears as though viewers are just as excited about watching (and critiquing) Yasmin as Abela is about playing her. When you have that kind of a dynamic going on between a show and its viewers, it's usually a strong sign of success.

If you've been missing out, you can catch up on both seasons 1 and 2 of "Industry" right now on HBO Max.