Categories Billions Print Media Recap

Billions Premiere Recap

Axe is Back, Baby!

by Kyle Fowle| Entertainment Weekly | August 13, 2023

The final season of Billions begins with a loud crash and a flurry of F-bombs. After a brief recap of the previous season, we pick up with Michael Prince (Corey Stoll) storming out of the elevator at Michael Prince Capital. His face is pure anger. He makes a beeline for the reception desk and asks his employee to find Wendy Rhoades (Maggie Siff). When he learns that she’s actually in the office and not hiding from him, he’s livid, as if her mere presence disgusts him. Prince strides with purpose and grabs a monitor off a table and throws it through the glass walls of Wendy’s office. Stepping in, he shouts, demanding to know why she thinks he’s so unfit to run for president.

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Categories Billions Print Media Recap

Billions Season-Premiere Recap

Rebel Alliance

by Sarene Leeds | Vulture | August 12, 2023

It’s been roughly one year and four months since the season-six finale of Billions — a finale I dubbed “The Biggest Losers.” And if the seventh season premiere is any indication, my sentiments toward most of the Billions characters haven’t changed much. In many respects, with this being the final season of the Showtime financial-crime drama, it’s unavoidable that we want to know which one of these megalomaniacs will “win.” Will it be patrician “man of the people” Charles Rhoades, Jr., whose quest to put corrupt finance bros behind bars increasingly belies his own power-hungry objectives? Will it be boy-next-door billionaire Mike Prince, whose presidential bid echoes that of another frightening dark horse candidate? Will it be Billions’ prodigal son Bobby “Axe” Axelrod — newly returned to the series after evading federal charges in the season-five finale? Or will it be Dr. Wendy Rhoades, Axe’s onetime confidante and apparently the only person in the Billions universe capable of noticing Prince’s budding demagoguery?

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Categories Billions Gallery Trailer Video

Next Time on Billions Season 7 Episode 2

Season 7, Episode 2: “Original Sin”

by Gingersnap | damian-lewis.com | August 11, 2023

Prince recruits campaign support and encourages the Prince Cappers to aim high under a new directive for big swings. Chuck negotiates with a ghost from his past to advance a new agenda. Axe shares a glimpse into his new life.

To view more sneak peek photos, please visit our Gallery here.

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Categories Billions Print Media Recap Review

Billions Season 7 Premiere Recap: Axe is Back

A Certain Redheaded Maniac Returns

by Sean T. Collins | New York Times | August 11, 2023

Season 7, Episode 1: ‘Tower of London’

He’s back.

Bobby Axelrod, the hard-charging, take-no-prisoners billionaire who served as the antagonist-cum-co-protagonist for the first five seasons of “Billions,” returns at the end of the show’s seventh and final season premiere. Like a demon out of an esoteric’s grimoire, Axe (Damian Lewis) has been summoned by three of his closest associates — Wendy (Maggie Siff), Wags (David Costabile) and Taylor (Asia Kate Dillon) — to rise from legally mandated oblivion in order to defeat a devil far worse than the devil we know.

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Categories Billions Print Media Recap Review

Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Billions’ Season 7 on Showtime

The Final Run For the Drama About Financial Elites and
Those That Operate Against Them

by Johnny Loftus | Decider | August 11, 2023

The trading floor is almost closed for Billions, which returns to Showtime for its seventh and final season. (The series will stream Fridays on Paramount+ and Showtime before dropping broadcast episodes on Sunday evenings.) Will Americans say “I Like Mike” in 2028? Can Michael Thomas Aquinas Prince even move up his timeline for the presidency by channeling his particular deca-billionaire mojo?

What kind of juice does Chuck Rhoades retain, and is it enough to stop Prince? Or does this evolving war require its dark horse? That’s right, the biggest get for Billions’ final bow is the return of Damian Lewis as Robert “Bobby” Axelrod, which as season 7 begins will involve some detective work from Maggie Siff as Wendy Rhoades.

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Categories Billions Print Media Recap Review

Billions: How Damian Lewis’ Bobby ‘Axe’ Axelrod Returns in Season 7 Premiere

Tower of London Season 7 Episode 1

by Isaac Rouse | TV Insider | August 11, 2023

[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for the Billions Season 7 premiere “Tower of London.”]

The road to the end of Billions has begun with the start of its seventh and final season, which brings Damian Lewis back as Bobby “Axe” Axelrod for one last showdown.

Axe did not give up his business empire easily. At the end of Season 5 of Showtime’s Wall Street thriller, a two-pronged attack drove him from New York City to Switzerland, turning him from a swaggering master of the universe into a financial fugitive. New York State Attorney General Chuck Rhoades (Paul Giamatti) falsely accused him of money-laundering charges. Meanwhile, his billionaire nemesis, Michael Prince (Corey Stoll), took advantage of the situation to acquire Axelrod’s assets below price. However, despite the setbacks, Axe has made a strong comeback with his charismatic and cutthroat demeanor still intact as he reenters the ring.

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Categories Billions Print Media Review

Billions Season 7: Leaps of Financial Fantasy Saved by a Superb Cast

Superlative Acting

by Robin Wigglesworth | Financial Times | August 11, 2023

★★★☆☆

It’s hard to say exactly where Billions — the TV series about an increasingly fictional hedge fund manager, his legal nemesis and the spreading chaos left by their feud — went a little off the rails.

It might have been when the brilliant but junior analyst Taylor Mason was suddenly promoted to chief investment officer of what is supposed to be one of the world’s biggest hedge funds, only to jump ship and then be bought back. Or perhaps the entire plot line around a serpentine Russian oligarch Grigor Andolov played by John Malkovich. And even in this day and age, the US Treasury secretary doing a bit of gleeful insider trading is a tad implausible.

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Categories Billions Print Media Review

Billions Offers a Wealth of Entertaining Moments in Final Season

Axelrod’s Back and Prince Eyes the White House

by Richard Roeper | Chicago Sun-Times | August 9, 2023

“Billions” features a total of 11 primary cast members, and it’s a tribute to the deep bench of this financial drama that at least a half-dozen other members have their moments to shine. Based on the six episodes I’ve seen of a 12-chapter final run, it’s evident showrunners Brian Koppelman, David Levien and Andrew Ross Sorkin are poised to close things on a high-stakes note — although there reportedly are plans for a number of spinoffs, including “Millions” and “Trillions.” (I’m in!)

Featuring some of the most impressive production values, needle drops and ensemble acting of any series of the last 10 years, “Billions” has been a signature title in the Showtime arsenal since 2016 — and the complex and intertwining storylines are further boosted in the home stretch with the return of the screen-commanding Damian Lewis as the billionaire hedge fund legend and schemer extraordinaire Bobby Axelrod, who remains in exile overseas but might be poised to get back in the game.

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Categories Billions Interviews

Billions Stars Damian Lewis and Paul Giamatti Tease Potential Season 7 Team Up

Axe: Swagger in Too Tight Pants

by Ileane Rudolph | TV Insider | August 1, 2023

[This interview was conducted prior to the SAG-AFTRA strike authorization.]

Former hedge fund mogul Bobby “Axe” Axelrod (Damian Lewis) did not give up his business empire easily. At the end of Season 5 of Showtime’s Wall Street thriller Billions, it took a two-pronged attack to drive Axe from New York City to Switzerland, turning him from a swaggering master of the universe into a financial fugitive. New York State Attorney General Chuck Rhoades (Paul Giamatti) had him on trumped-up money-laundering charges, and billionaire nemesis Michael Prince (Corey Stoll) bought Axelrod’s huge assets way below market price. But now Axe has reentered the ring for this seventh and final season, his charming, ruthless confidence intact.

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Categories Billions Video

Damian Lewis and Paul Giamatti Look Back at Epic Showdown Scene in Billions Season 1

Leaving Nagasaki Behind

by Sho_Billions | YouTube | August 1, 2023

Damian and Paul Giamatti look back at Axe and Chuck’s epic showdown scene from Billions season 1, episode 12 “The Conversation.” Damian said the scene felt like 20 years ago but that he loves this last scene. He discusses the use of the 360 degrees filming and long lens. Also, Paul spoke about what it is like acting alongside Damian. Enjoy the video:

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Categories Billions Video

Billions Cast Recap Seasons 1-6

“The Final Showdown Can Begin”

by Sho_Billions | YouTube | July 31, 2023

Why is Damian crossing his fingers? Find out below as Damian (Bobby Axelrod), Paul Giamatti (Chuck Rhoades), Kelly AuCoin (Dollar Bill Stearn), Maggie Siff (Wendy Rhoades), Condola Rashad (Kate Sacker), Asia Kate Dillon (Taylor Mason), David Costabile (Wags), Jeffrey DeMunn (Senior), Corey Stoll (Prince) and more recap Billions season 1 – 6 in two and half minutes.  Enjoy the video:

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