HBO announced new additions to the cast of Industry for the fifth and final season of its finance drama yesterday. I have not been able to dislodge one particular character name from my head when I first read the news: Skip Binksy. Stunning, no notes!
Skip Binksy, the CFO of a tech wellness company, will be played by Dianna Agron, best known for cheerleader Quinn Fabray on Glee. Agron posted a short video of herself seemingly in a Skip Binksy suit on Instagram for the casting news, with the caption, “Joining the firm. Swipe for the news. Let’s go, favorite show @industryhbo.”
Fans of the show are also having a minor field day with the casting announcement. “god i love INDUSTRY,” X user @kaiyashunyata wrote. “what other show would announce a new character named Skip Binksy.” Searching “Skip Binsky” turns up a whole bunch of people riffing on the newly viral-ish persona Chanty Beluga, which… I don’t have time to get into right now. I’m sorry. Google it.
It’s likely that Skip Binsky is the CFO of a company founded by fitness influencer-turned-CEO Carmen Dune, played by Girls’ Zosia Mamet as announced in July. Agron’s Skip Binksy is joined by several other excitingly named (but not as good as Skip Binksy) characters. There’s Padgett Stillman, a descriptionless investor played by Cary Elwes (The Princess Bride, Saw, Robin Hood: Men in Tights). Sam Riley (Islands, Ian Curtis in the Joy Division biopic Control) will be Solomon Kerr, “an elusive British businessman who made his fortune in Silicon Valley” (does he happen to know what Harry Lawtey’s Robert Spearing is up to these days?). Jessica Brown Findlay (Castlevania, Downton Abbey) will play Marina St. Clair, a “family friend” of, who else, Kit Harington’s Sir Henry Muck.
Just a few left: Bally Gill (Interview with the Vampire, Slow Horses) joins as “charismatic left-wing politician” Nikesh Shah. Finally, Luke Manley (Marty Supreme) and Eduard Pliakov (On Drive) will respectively play Stevie Delmonte and Olexij Kovalchuk, two traders.
The new additions hop onto an already expansive cast of fun character names, including Harper Stern (Mhya’la), Yasmin Kara-Hanani (Marisa Abela), Haley Clay (Kiernan Shipka) and, the current holder of the top spot, Sweetpea Golightly (Miriam Petche), to name a mere few. TBD if we’ll see the return of Ken Leung’s Eric Tao after his big walk-off moment toward the end of last season.
Industry Season 5 is currently in production in the U.K. It doesn’t yet have a release date, but it’s expected to start airing in early 2027.
Photo credit: Dianna Agron – River Callaway/WWD via Getty Images
Leanne Butkovic (she/they) is an Editorial Project Manager at IGN, where they’ve also written about TV, movies, and games.
