It’s been said that if HBO’s much-discussed hit Succession is about the über rich as we like to imagine them—coiffed, buttoned up, and clad in the designer gear we imagine ourselves in if money were no object—Showtime’s Billions is more like the über rich as they actually are: dowdy, kinda-corny dads in Patagonia vests and rock’n’roll t-shirts.
The show, which has come to embody the slightly-porny, off-brandish sub-genre “Showtime prestige,” is set to premiere its seventh season August 11th on streaming (and then on Showtime proper on August 13th). Now comes word that season 7 will also function as its sendoff. Dan Soder, who has played Axe Capital’s “Dudley Mafee” for 54 out of 60 Billions episodes, reportedly let slip the news on a recent appearance on NBC Sports Chicago’s Football Night.
“Season seven, the final season of Billions, on its way,” Soder said, before realizing he’d just dropped the bombshell. “Am I not supposed to say that? I don’t know if I’m supposed to say that.”
It had been previously reported that the most recent season will also feature original co-lead Damian Lewis’s return to the fold as Bobby “Bobby Axe” Axelrod, who previously departed in season five. Lewis, who won an Emmy in 2013 for playing Sgt. Nicholas Brody on Homeland (also for Showtime), surely belongs on the Mt. Rushmore of British actors who can do thoroughly convincing American accents, and watching him chew scenery was always central to Billions’ appeal. (Bobby Axe is said to have been based on the billionaire founder of SAC Capital, Steve Cohen.)
Billions has become something of a cult favorite, on the strength of its dynamite cast, with Paul Giamatti, Corey Stoll, and Maggie Siff, and its openly schlocky storytelling, a sort of Succession for people who just want to see the rich people being naughty without all the artistic pretensions. (Billions, for example, would never include Easter eggs like references to a John Berryman poem.)
According to Showtime’s official synopsis, “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.”
In another HBO-like move, Showtime plans to phase out the Showtime app and rebrand as “Paramount+ with Showtime,” along with a price hike, set to take effect June 27th. Meanwhile, Billions executive producers Brian Koppelman, David Levien, and Paul Schiff will carry on the brand , with a full Billions Cinematic Universe , including spin-offs Millions, Trillions, Billions: Miami, and Billions: London. (No word on whether the actors on Millions will be getting paid less than those on Billions or Trillions.)
Paramount shareholders surely hope viewers will enjoy the naughty rich people expanded universe as much as they enjoy the messy ranchers of Yellowstone or the sexy medical examiners of CSI. As Bobby Axe would surely understand, there’s nothing so valuable as repeatable IP.