Damian Lewis exiting Billions after five seasons on Showtime

Damian Lewis exiting Billions after five seasons

October 4th 2021, 8:46am

Damian Lewis, Billions, Showtime, season 6

Season six of Billions will debut on January 23, 2022, but it will be doing so without one of its stars. It has been announced that Damian Lewis, who plays Bobby Axelrod, aka, Axe, on the hit Showtime series, will be departing the show after five seasons. The news comes as Billions aired its season five finale last night.

A reason for Lewis’ exit seems to be something that Lewis has been seeking for at least three years. Co-creator Brian Koppelman says that “for a variety of reasons” Lewis began discussing a departure from the series during that time period as he wanted to spend more time with his family. In April of this past year, Lewis lost his wife, actress Helen McCrory, who died at the age of 52 from cancer. Lewis took to his Twitter page last night to say goodbye to the series:

Thank you @SHO_Billions thank you @briankoppelman @DavidLevien. A pleasure and a privilege to play Axe for 5 seasons with some of the smartest, funniest most talented cast and crew I’ve worked with. I’ll miss the Billions family. Yep, some jobs are more than just a job…. Love.
— Damian Lewis (@lewis_damian) October 4, 2021

Showtime says, per “Deadline“, that the upcoming season will find Axe gone and Michael Prince (Corey Stoll) will be taking his place. Stoll joined the series as a guest star in season five as a new threat to Axe. The network revealed last year that Stoll had been upped to a series regular for season six.

Also returning for the upcoming sixth season are Paul Giamatti, Stoll, and Maggie Siff. Daniel Breaker, who stars on the show as Scooter, the chief of staff to Michael Prince, has now become a series regular for the upcoming sixth season. During season six, Chuck (Giamatti) must develop a new strategy that is keener and more sophisticated than before while all the players, Wags (David Costabile), Wendy (Siff), Taylor (Asia Kate Dillion), Sacker (Condola Rashad), and Senior (Jeffrey DeMunn), must “sharpen their weapons and look for new alliances in order to survive.”

Billions tells the story of hedge fund manager Bobby Axelrod (Damian Lewis), as he accumulates wealth and power in the world of high finance. Axelrod’s aggressive tactics to secure high returns frequently crosses over into illegal acts that United States Attorney Chuck Rhoades (Giamatti) attempts to prosecute.

Are YOU sad to see Damian Lewis exit Billions?