Axe is back. Damian Lewis, who departed Showtime’s “Billions” at the end of Season 5, will return to the series in time for Season 7, the network announced late Monday. Lewis, who stars with Guy Pearce in next month’s MGM+ series “A Spy Among Friends,” will return for six of the 12 episodes of “Billions” set to air next season.
Lewis is back as Bobby “Axe” Axelrod opposite Paul Giamatti, Corey Stoll and Maggie Siff. The show is currently in production in New York, and Lewis’ return had already been leaked via paparazzi photos that showed him, in character, back with his old “Billions” co-stars.
Here’s the logline for next season via Showtime: “In season seven, alliances are turned on their heads. Old wounds are weaponized. Loyalties are tested. Betrayal takes on epic proportions. Enemies become wary friends. And Bobby Axelrod returns, as the stakes grow from Wall Street to the world.”
“Billions” also stars David Costabile, Asia Kate Dillon, Condola Rashad, Jeffrey DeMunn, Sakina Jaffrey and Daniel Breaker. Also, Toney Goins (who plays Philip) has been made a season regular in Season 7.
As Variety wrote at the time of the Season 5 finale, “No Direction Home,” in the end, “Lewis’ Axelrod, once again under the gun from law enforcement, escapes in cloak-and-dagger fashion with a hoard of money to Switzerland to avoid prosecution in New York.”
That had left the door open that even though Lewis would no longer be a series regular, that the character returning to the “Billions” universe one day. Season 6 of “Billions” ran in the winter and early spring last year, with the season finale on April 10, 2022.
Lewis won an Emmy for playing U.S. Marine Corp. Sgt. Nicholas Brody on Showtime’s “Homeland,” from 2011 to 2013. He returned to the pay cabler for “Billions,” which premiered in January 2016.
Lewis’ exit from “Billions” in 2021 came following the death that year of his wife, actor Helen McCrory.
“Billions” comes from creators, executive producers and showrunners Brian Koppelman and David Levien. Beth Schacter also serves as showrunner and executive producer. The series was also created by Andrew Ross Sorkin.
As Paramount+ merges with Showtime, the company also recently announced that up to four new “Billions” spinoff series are in the works. That includes “Billions: Miami” as a new installment set in the world of private aviation; “Billions: London,” set in the world of U.K. finance; “Millions,” featuring diverse, 30-something, financial mogul wannabes in Manhattan; and “Trillions,” based on fictional stories of the richest people in the world.
