‘Industry’ stars Ken Leung and Myha’la spill on the Trump detail HBO axed from season 4 — and why Eric had to go

HBO paid a large amount of money to digitally remove a small President Trump figurine from every frame it appeared in during the first season of the finance drama Industry. This was revealed by stars Ken Leung and Myha’la Herrold, who said the network spent heavily to make sure this detail never made it to air.

Leung, who plays an American finance worker in the London market, admitted he was the one who brought the prop onto set. According to The Hollywood Reporter, he had placed the small Trump figurine on top of his character’s Bloomberg monitors during Season 1. Both he and Herrold believe their characters lean conservative, which is why the figurine felt like a fitting choice for the world they portray.

Herrold, who plays Harper Stern, initially questioned how her character would even vote since she doesn’t live in the US. But she quickly agreed the political leanings were clear. When she asked Leung whether the production team made him remove the figurine, he revealed what actually happened.

HBO’s costly decision to erase a background prop shows how carefully networks manage political optics

“No, what I was told is that they spent so much money erasing that from every frame,” Leung revealed. Herrold seemed to recall the situation well, adding, “Oh, yeah. I remember now, they were like, we blew the budget just to get that s— out.” For HBO, a network that has also been making platform changes to keep viewers happy, protecting the show’s image clearly took priority over budget concerns.

It is worth noting that the network moved quickly to remove the political detail, even though the actors felt it suited their characters. Herrold added, “But they must vote conservatively,” suggesting she stood by the idea that the figurine made sense for who these characters are.

While Season 1 had its behind-the-scenes drama, the show has continued to grow in popularity. Season 4 is currently airing, having premiered on January 11 and set to wrap up on March 1. Critics have called the current season “top-tier television,” and it opened to higher viewership than Season 3.

The show’s audience continues to grow, even as certain background details from its early days were quietly, and expensively, wiped from existence. This success comes at a time when a smaller streamer outperformed HBO Max and Peacock, proving that the streaming landscape is becoming harder to navigate for even the biggest names.