Industry season 4’s Kiernan Shipka is grateful for her role on the hit series Mad Men and what the show has done for her continued career.
“I mean, Mad Men’s such a legacy show and it’s crazy to be a part of it,” Shipka, 26, exclusively told Us Weekly on Thursday, January 8, while attending the Industry season 4 New York City premiere at Regal Union Square.
“It still sort of blows my mind,” Shipka continued. “I actually think the older that I get and the further away from it I get, the weirder and wilder it is to process the fact that that was a part of my life and it’s something that I’m part of — but it’s cool.
For the uninitiated, Shipka memorably played young Sally Draper — daughter of Don Draper (Jon Hamm) and Betty Draper (January Jones) — on the award-winning show for all seven seasons, meaning the actress literally grew up on set. Shipka went on to play Sabrina Spellman in Netflix’s Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, though she has always credited Mad Men for becoming her own personal acting school.
“I had someone tell me the other day that they were watching Mad Men on HBO Max, and then it cuts to, like, a trailer for Industry, and I’m doing something very adult and it’s kind of, like, wild that it’s been so long,” Shipka explained to Us on Thursday. “But it’s exciting and I will always owe, quite literally, everything here to Mad Men.”
Now, Shipka is stepping into the deliciously dark world of Industry, joining season 4 as Hayley Clay, an executive assistant at a fintech company described as a “full party girl.” According to Shipka, the role was complex and a total joy to film.
“I think just that she was very layered, very complicated, and I looked at her whole journey as, like, this big old map and I got to sort of place who she was playing, where and when, and she was just a fun person to dive into,” she explained to Us. “She kind of had a lot of beats and moments to sort of, you know, fill out her story and she’s also just, like, kind of sassy and raw. I loved her.”
Part of the fun of playing the character, Shipka said, was diving into the “party girl” world.
“So fun! Oh my god, I mean, I’ve done enough research and development in my own life,” she joked with Us. “It’s good that I finally got to bring it.”
Without giving too much away — other than a shocking twist — the former Mad Men star is hopeful that viewers who are already used to (and obsessed with) the Industry’s brand of sex, drugs and complicated relationships will be shocked by her character’s journey.
“I just hope that they’re surprised by her,” Shipka said. “I was surprised by her. I was surprised reading it. I never knew what her next move was, and I really hope that people don’t see what’s coming.”
With reporting by Vincent Perella
