Most of Showtime’s last few new series — Happyish, Ray Donovan, The Affair, Penny Dreadful — haven’t really managed to break through for the network (though, I hear that the second season of Penny Dreadful was very good). Without Dexter, the network only has one formidable flagship show these days in Homeland, but that may soon change with Billions, which stars former Homeland regular, Damian Lewis.
The rest of the cast is not bad, either. In addition to Paul Giamatti, Billions will star Malin Akerman, Maggie Siff (Sons of Anarchy), Toby Leonard Moore (Daredevil) and David Costabile (Breaking Bad).
The show, set in Wall Street, is about the collision course that U.S. Attorney Chuck Rhoades (Giamatti) and hedge fund king, Bobby “Axe” Axelrod are headed toward, as the two use their considerable smarts, power, and influence to outmaneuver one another. It comes from New York Times financial columnist Andrew Ross Sorkin, who also wrote the book Too Big to Fail, which was adapted into a movie for HBO. Neil Burger (The Illusionist, Limitless) directed the pilot.
Billions arrives on Showtime in 2016.
