“Billions” premiered on Showtime on January 17, 2016, and ran for seven seasons and 84 episodes before its final episode aired on October 29, 2023. The series was created by Brian Koppelman, David Levien and Andrew Ross Sorkin, and it built its name on a simple collision: a U.S. Attorney and a hedge fund king, each certain the other belongs in a cell.
Trailer, via Billions.
Chuck Rhoades and Bobby Axelrod
The show is set mostly in New York and Connecticut. Paul Giamatti plays Chuck Rhoades, the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, who gets a tip that hedge fund magnate Bobby “Axe” Axelrod has traded on insider information. Damian Lewis plays Axelrod, a man who gathers wealth and power in high finance and does not much care who notices.
The pilot lays out the trap fast. Axelrod’s inner circle includes Chuck’s wife, Wendy Rhoades, played by Maggie Siff, who works as a performance coach at Axe Capital. David Costabile plays Michael “Wags” Wagner, Axelrod’s right-hand man. Chuck opens an investigation into the firm and arrests one of Axelrod’s top confidantes, Dollar Bill Stearn, played by Kelly AuCoin.
Wendy tries to broker a settlement between the two men. Both sides agree to terms. Chuck blows up the deal at the last moment to spite Axelrod.
Wendy Rhoades, Taylor Mason and the Cost of the Job
That sabotage sets the engine running. Chuck recuses himself from the investigation and hands the case to his point man, Bryan Connerty, played by Toby Leonard Moore, while insisting he still be told how it is going. Connerty flips a trader named Donnie Caan, played by David Cromer. The win collapses: Donnie had a terminal illness, and Axelrod used him to feed the FBI information he would not live to testify about.
Wendy leaves Chuck after he breaches her session notes to get proof of Axelrod’s illegalities. She also leaves Axe Capital, unwilling to work at a firm that operates that way. An official misconduct investigation into Chuck’s office follows, led by Oliver Dake, played by Christopher Denham. Axelrod then moves against Chuck with a class action lawsuit.
The cast widens from there:
- Asia Kate Dillon as market analyst Taylor Mason
- Corey Stoll as Mike Prince
- Jeffrey DeMunn as Chuck Rhoades, Sr.
- Dola Rashad as Kate Sacker
- Daniel Breaker as Roger “Scooter” Dunbar
- Sakina Jaffrey as Daevisha “Dave” Mahar
- Toney Goins as Philip Charyn
Where the Show Pulls From Real Life
“Billions” does not invent its weather. Rhoades is based on Preet Bharara, the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York from 2009 to 2017. The series was inspired by real federal prosecutions of financial crime. Bharara’s 2013 prosecution of hedge fund manager Steven A. Cohen of S.A.C. Capital Advisors loosely shaped the first season. Salomon Brothers’ 1991 manipulation of U.S. Treasury bonds shaped the second.
That grounding is the show’s best asset and its limit. The first season works because the tip, the settlement Wendy tries to broker and the flipped trader all feel like steps a real office would take, and because Giamatti and Lewis play men who enjoy the fight more than the outcome. Wendy is the sharper creation: she sits inside both camps and pays for it. The later seasons have a harder job, and the show’s habit of replacing one antagonist with another eventually thins the pressure that made the early episodes crackle.
Still, seven seasons and 84 episodes is a long run for a drama this talky, and it earned the run.
The Dates That Matter
| Milestone | Date |
|---|---|
| Series premiere | January 17, 2016 |
| Final season premiere | August 13, 2023 |
| Series finale | October 29, 2023 |
“Billions” is at its best when the case and the marriage are the same argument. Watch the first season for that. Watch the rest for the performances.
77/100.
Get the Notebook.
The day's best stories and every fresh verdict, in plain English, in your inbox by seven. One email a day, no more.