Posted in: Showtime, TV | Tagged: billions, Bobby Axelrod, Damian Lewis, showtime

Billions: Damian Lewis on Leaving Bobby Axelrod – "We Know Who He Is"

By now, viewers of Showtime's Billions have learned that Damian Lewis won't be returning for the show's sixth season (more on that in a minute), with his Bobby Axelrod having fled to Switzerland to avoid Chuck's (Paul Giamatti) legal reach in "No Direction Home"- thus marking the end of Lewis' five-season run on the series. Earlier on Monday, Lewis took to Twitter to address his leaving and the love he has for showrunners & EPs Brian Koppelman and David Levien's (co-created with Andrew Ross Sorkin) series. Thank you ['Billions'] thank you [Brian Koppelman] [David Levien]. A pleasure and a privilege to play Axe for 5 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," Lewis wrote in his tweet, with more to add in an interview with The New York Times.

"There's an opportunity maybe for me to return. But for now, broadly speaking, Axe has been vanquished," Lewis explained. "I don't like closing chapters, but it does feel like it's the end of that for now." Though feeling he's said everything he needs to say about Bobby ("It's difficult to keep mining, creatively. We know who he is"), he's proud of the impact the character and the series had on the bigger societal conversations. "We did somehow make him a thing in the culture," Lewis revealed. "And that's always fun to achieve." Here's a look at Lewis' tweet from earlier today:

The new war between Chuck and Prince (Corey Stoll) kicks off with Season 6 on January 23- and we have a teaser:

Now here's a look back at the beginning of the end for Lewis' Bobby Axelrod;

In the second half of season five, the presence of powerful billionaire Mike Prince (Corey Stoll) sends ripples through Axe Capital and gives Chuck Rhoades (Giamatti) a potential new weapon in his fight against Bobby Axelrod (Lewis). Alliances form, get ripped apart and form anew, and everyone from Taylor (Asia Kate Dillon) to Wendy (Maggie Siff) gets roped into the conflict, which comes very close to destroying all they hold dear.

Here's a look at a previously-released preview for the return of Showtime's Billions where Mike makes it pretty clear to Bobby that there's a difference between believing and bluffing- and Mike Prince definitely believes in himself. Considering how things ended this season, turns out this was foreshadowing:

Created by executive producers-showrunners Brian Koppelman and David Levien, as well as Andrew Ross Sorkin, Billions stars Damian Lewis, Paul Giamatti, Maggie Siff, Asia Kate Dillon, David Costabile, Condola Rashad, Kelly AuCoin, Jeffrey DeMunn, Roma Mafia, and more. Joining the cast during the fifth season were Emmy and Golden Globe winner Julianna Margulies (The Good Wife, ER) and Golden Globe nominee Corey Stoll (House of Cards, Ratched) in recurring roles- with Stoll being upped to a series regular with the sixth season. Emmy nominee Janeane Garofalo (The Larry Sanders Show) joins the cast in the recurring role of Winslow- the hip owner of a legal cannabis corporation.

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