Billions season seven trailer sees Damian Lewis return following shock exit
Damian Lewis' Billions character Bobby Axelrod returns in the seventh and final season of the popular finance drama.
In a new trailer for the upcoming season, which arrives on Friday 11 August in the US and Saturday 12 August for UK fans, the hedge fund billionaire says: "I'm back now, and I'm wide awake."
Damian, 52, who left as the show's lead in season five, will appear in six of the 12 episodes, which will be available to stream weekly on Paramount +.
As for what fans can expect from the new episodes, the synopsis teases: "Alliances are turned on their heads. Old wounds are weaponised. 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."
Damian first announced that he would be departing the drama in October 2021. He wrote on Twitter at the time: "Thank you @SHO_Billions thank you @briankoppelman @DavidLevien. A pleasure and a privilege to play Axe for five 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."
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He later told The New York Times: "There's an opportunity maybe for me to return. But for now, broadly speaking, Axe has been vanquished," adding that it was "easily the most time I've spent playing one character" after playing the part for half a decade.
He went on to say that the death of his wife of 14 years, Helen McCrory, who passed away from breast cancer six months prior to his exit, was not a factor in his decision but that he did want to spend more time at home in London after "we had a sadness in our family".
After wrapping filming for Damian's final scenes for season five, executive producer Brian Koppelman said: "We wouldn't ask him to come to America in that situation – right after the love of his life passed away, who was a remarkable, incredible artist and human being.
"It's Damian's private life, so it's not really ours to comment on. We just feel truly, unbelievably lucky to have had five years with Damian Lewis and Paul Giamatti together."
Billions season seven cast
The upcoming seventh series will also see the return of main cast members Paul Giamatti, Corey Stoll, and Maggie Siff, along with David Costabile, Asia Kate Dillon, Condola Rashad, Jeffrey DeMunn, Sakina Jaffrey, and Daniel Breaker.
A new addition to the cast is Babak Tafti, who joins as Bradford Luke, a high-power political consultant.
Fans can also look forward to seeing the expansion of the Billions universe as Showtime previously announced that several projects are in development. As many as four new spin-offs will be executive produced by Paul Schiff, along with showrunners Brian Koppelman and David Levien.
