''Billions'' is an American

drama Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance: a play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a genre of poetry in general, the dramatic mode has been ...

television series A television show – or simply TV show – is any content produced for viewing on a television set which can be broadcast via over-the-air, satellite television, satellite, or cable television, cable, excluding breaking news, television adverti ...

created by

Brian Koppelman Brian William Koppelman (born April 27, 1966) is an American showrunner. Koppelman is the co-writer of ''Ocean's Thirteen'' and ''Rounders'', the producer for films including '' The Illusionist'' and '' The Lucky Ones'', the director for films inc ...

David Levien David Levien (born December 9, 1967) is a screenwriter, director, producer, and novelist. He is co-creator, executive producer, and showrunner of Showtime's '' Billions'', along with Brian Koppelman. Over the past two decades Levien has created an ...

, and

Andrew Ross Sorkin Andrew Ross Sorkin (born February 19, 1977) is an American journalist and author. He is a financial columnist for ''The New York Times'' and a co-anchor of CNBC's ''Squawk Box.'' He is also the founder and editor of DealBook, a financial news s ...

. The series premiered on

Showtime Showtime or Show Time may refer to: Film * ''Showtime'' (film), a 2002 American action/comedy film * ''Showtime'' (video), a 1995 live concert video by Blur Television Networks and channels * Showtime Networks, a division of Paramount Global w ...

on January 17, 2016, and has produced six complete seasons to date. The series is often set in large

financial center A financial centre ( BE), financial center ( AE), or financial hub, is a location with a concentration of participants in banking, asset management, insurance or financial markets with venues and supporting services for these activities to t ...

s, most notably New York and

Connecticut Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its cap ...

. The series tells the story of

hedge fund A hedge fund is a pooled investment fund that trades in relatively liquid assets and is able to make extensive use of more complex trading, portfolio-construction, and risk management techniques in an attempt to improve performance, such as sho ...

manager Bobby Axelrod (

Damian Lewis Damian Watcyn Lewis (born 11 February 1971) is an English actor, presenter and producer. He is best known for portraying U.S. Army Major Richard Winters in the HBO miniseries '' Band of Brothers'', which earned him a Golden Globe nomination ...

), as he accumulates wealth and power in the world of high finance. Axelrod's aggressive tactics to secure high returns frequently cross over into the illegal—acts that

United States Attorney United States attorneys are officials of the U.S. Department of Justice who serve as the chief federal law enforcement officers in each of the 94 U.S. federal judicial districts. Each U.S. attorney serves as the United States' chief federal ...

Chuck Rhoades (

Paul Giamatti Paul Edward Valentine Giamatti (; born June 6, 1967) is an American actor and film producer. He first garnered attention for his breakout role in '' Private Parts'' as Kenny "Pig Vomit" Rushton, leading to supporting roles in ''Saving Private R ...

) attempts to prosecute. A large ensemble secondary cast supports the series' story arcs. Some plotlines mirror real-life prosecutions of financial crime by federal authorities. The series was inspired by the investigations undertaken by

Preet Bharara Preetinder Singh Bharara (; born October 13, 1968) is an Indian-born American lawyer, author, podcaster and former federal prosecutor who served as the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York from 2009 to 2017. He is curren ...

, the

United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York The United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York is the chief federal law enforcement officer in eight New York counties: New York (Manhattan), Bronx, Westchester, Putnam, Rockland, Orange, Dutchess and Sullivan. Establishe ...

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

from 2009 to 2017, on whom Rhoades is based. Bharara's 2013 prosecution of hedge fund manager Steven A. Cohen of S.A.C. Capital Advisors loosely influenced the first season, while

Salomon Brothers Salomon Brothers, Inc., was an American multinational bulge bracket investment bank headquartered in New York. It was one of the five largest investment banking enterprises in the United States and the most profitable firm on Wall Street durin ...

' 1991 manipulation of U.S. Treasury bonds inspired the second. The series also interweaves subplots with Wendy Rhoades (

Maggie Siff Maggie Siff (born June 21, 1974) is an American actress. Her most notable television roles have included department store heiress Rachel Menken Katz on the AMC drama '' Mad Men'', Dr. Tara Knowles on the FX drama '' Sons of Anarchy'' for which ...

), a psychiatrist turned performance coach, Taylor Mason (

Asia Kate Dillon Asia Kate Dillon (born November 15, 1984) is an American actor, best known for their roles as Brandy Epps in ''Orange Is the New Black'' and Taylor Mason in '' Billions''. Dillon identifies as non-binary and uses singular they pronouns. Their ...

), a market analyst, and Mike "Wags" Wagner (

David Costabile David Costabile (; born January 9, 1967) is an American actor. He is best known for his television work, having appeared in supporting roles in several television series such as '' Billions'', ''Breaking Bad'', ''Damages'', '' Flight of the Conc ...

), Axelrod's right-hand man. The series has received generally positive reviews. ''Billions'' is considered the first American TV series to have a

non-binary Non-binary and genderqueer are umbrella terms for gender identities that are not solely male or femaleidentities that are outside the gender binary. Non-binary identities fall under the transgender umbrella, since non-binary people typically ...

character (Taylor Mason). As such, it was nominated for Outstanding Drama Series in the 29th, 30th, 31st

GLAAD Media Award The GLAAD Media Award is an accolade bestowed by GLAAD to recognize and honor various branches of the media for their outstanding representations of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community and the issues that affect their liv ...

s for its representation of the

LGBTQ ' is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity. The LGBT term is ...

community. The series has been nominated for multiple Satellite Awards, a

Critics' Choice Television Award The Critics' Choice Television Awards are accolades that are presented annually by the Critics Choice Association (CCA). They were established in 2011, and the first ceremony was held on June 20, 2011, and streamed live on VH1.com. The fourt ...

and an

Artios Award for Outstanding Achievement in Comedy Pilot Casting The Artios Award for Outstanding Achievement in Comedy Pilot Casting is an award handed out annually by the Casting Society of America. It was introduced at the Art Directors Guilds' twelfth annual honors, in 1996 (honoring work from the previous ...

, the latter for its pilot episode. The show's coverage of the hedge fund industry has been recognized as realistic. The fifth season premiered on May 3, 2020; however, due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

, only 7 of the 12 episodes in that season aired that year. The fifth season resumed airing on September 5, 2021. In October 2020, the series was renewed for a sixth season which premiered on January 23, 2022. From the sixth season onwards, Damian Lewis as the iconic character Bobby "Axe" Axelrod was replaced with

Corey Stoll Corey Stoll (born March 14, 1976) is an American actor. He is best known for his roles as Congressman Peter Russo on the Netflix political thriller series ''House of Cards'' (2013–2016), for which he received a Golden Globe nomination in 2013 ...

as Mike Prince. In February 2022, the series was renewed for a seventh season.

Plot

U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York The United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York is the chief federal law enforcement officer in eight New York counties: New York (Manhattan), Bronx, Westchester, Putnam, Rockland, Orange, Dutchess and Sullivan. Establish ...

Chuck Roades (Giamatti) goes after

king and popular philanthropist Bobby "Axe" Axelrod (Lewis). A collision course, with each using all of their considerable smarts and influence to outmaneuver the other, looms.

Cast

Main

as Charles "Chuck" Rhoades, Jr.:

, who later attempts a run for

governor of New York The governor of New York is the head of government of the U.S. state of New York. The governor is the head of the executive branch of New York's state government and the commander-in-chief of the state's military forces. The governor has ...

and is elected Attorney General of New York. Rhoades is ruthless and has a particular distaste for wealthy criminals who try to buy their way out of justice. Despite his significant power as U.S. Attorney, Rhoades struggles not to be overshadowed both by his higher-earning wife, Wendy, and by his well-connected, wealthy father. He went to

Yale Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wor ...

(as did his father) and has a

blind trust A blind trust is a trust in which the trust beneficiaries have no knowledge of the holdings of the trust, and no right to intervene in their handling. In a blind trust, the trustees ( fiduciaries, or those who have been given power of attorney) ...

of which his father is a trustee. In private, he is a

sadomasochist Sadomasochism ( ) is the giving and receiving of pleasure from acts involving the receipt or infliction of pain or humiliation. Practitioners of sadomasochism may seek sexual pleasure from their acts. While the terms sadist and masochist refer ...

and engages in

BDSM BDSM is a variety of often erotic practices or roleplaying involving bondage, discipline, dominance and submission, sadomasochism, and other related interpersonal dynamics. Given the wide range of practices, some of which may be engaged ...

role play with Wendy and other women, acting as a "slave." The character is loosely based on the careers of

and Eliot Spitzer. *

as Robert "Bobby" Axelrod (season 1–5): an ambitious billionaire manager of the

Axe Capital and a Hofstra University graduate who came from humble beginnings. He was one of his firm's survivors of the

September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercia ...

, reforming it as Axe Capital and paying the college tuition of the children of his colleagues who died in the

World Trade Center World Trade Centers are sites recognized by the World Trade Centers Association. World Trade Center may refer to: Buildings * List of World Trade Centers * World Trade Center (2001–present), a building complex that includes five skyscrapers, a ...

. He is extremely charitable and generous in public, but uses insider trading and bribery to grow his firm's enormous wealth. He has animal-like instincts that make him extremely successful in his trading career. The character is loosely based on Steven A. Cohen and his former hedge fund S.A.C. Capital Advisors. At the end of season 5, Axelrod takes a deal in order to avoid going to jail for 15–25 years, and runs to Switzerland after having Mike Prince buy him out. *

as Wendy Rhoades: a psychiatrist, in-house performance coach at Axe Capital and wife of Chuck Rhoades, Jr. She is self-possessed, motivated, and extremely successful and went to Yale. She has a strong relationship with Axelrod, her boss, with whom she has been working for more than 15 years. She participates with Chuck in BDSM role play activities and dominates Chuck. *

Malin Åkerman Malin Maria Åkerman (born 12 May 1978) is a Swedish actress. In the early 2000s, she had several small television and film parts in both Canadian and American productions, including '' The Utopian Society'' (2003) and ''Harold & Kumar Go to Wh ...

as Lara Axelrod (starring season 1–3; guest season 4): wife and later ex-wife of Bobby Axelrod and a former nurse (who maintains her professional license). She is from a lower-class, blue-collar upbringing but has left her former self behind. She was devoted to her husband and their children. Her brother Dean was a firefighter who died during the 9/11 attacks. Lara disapproves of Axe's close relationship with Wendy. *

Toby Leonard Moore Toby Leonard Moore (born 28 April 1981) is an Australian actor, best known for his roles as Victor in ''John Wick'' (2014), as James Wesley in the Netflix series '' Daredevil'' (2015), and Bryan Connerty in the Showtime series '' Billions'' (2 ...

as Bryan Connerty (starring season 1–4; guest season 5), the Chief of the Securities and Commodities Fraud Task Force for the Southern District of New York and Rhoades's point man at the start of the series. He later succeeds Rhoades as

until he engages in illegal witness tampering, eventually spending time in prison for his crime. Chuck transfers him to a white-collar prison after making a deal with his brother. *

as Mike "Wags" Wagner:

COO COO or coo may refer to: Business * Certificate of origin, used in international trade * Chief operating officer or chief operations officer, high-ranking corporate official * Concept of operations, used in Systems Engineering Management Process ...

of Axe Capital and Axelrod's right-hand man. He is a known drug and sex addict and claims cocaine helps him focus on work. *

Condola Rashad Condola Phylea Rashad (born December 11, 1986) is an American actress best known for her work in the theatre. She first broke out with a critically acclaimed performance in Lynn Nottage's off-Broadway play ''Ruined'' (2009), which won a Pulitzer ...

as Kate Sacker: a former head of crime and Assistant United States Attorney in the Southern District of New York, now attorney in Rhoades's office as Assistant to Attorney General of New York. She is biding her time until she has the opportunity to run for Congress. Her ultimate goal is to be President of the United States. In the sixth season, she betrays Rhoades to Michael Prince. *

as Taylor Amber Mason (recurring season 2; starring season 3–present): a talented

financial analyst A financial analyst is a professional, undertaking financial analysis for external or internal clients as a core feature of the job. The role may specifically be titled securities analyst, research analyst, equity analyst, investment analyst, ...

at Axe Capital who is of a

non-binary gender Non-binary and genderqueer are umbrella terms for gender identities that are not solely male or femaleidentities that are outside the gender binary. Non-binary identities fall under the transgender umbrella, since non-binary people typicall ...

. Mason becomes close to Axelrod and is appointed CIO of Axe Capital during his legal troubles. They later leave Axe Capital to form Taylor Mason Capital, which is later forced back to Axe Capital as a subsidiary in-house fund under Axelrod's control. *

Jeffrey DeMunn Jeffrey DeMunn (born April 25, 1947) is an American stage, film and television actor known for playing Captain Esteridge in '' The Hitcher'' (1986), Sheriff Herb Geller in ''The Blob'' (1988), Andrei Chikatilo in '' Citizen X'' (1995), Harry Terwi ...

as Charles Rhoades, Sr. (recurring season 1–2; starring season 3–present): Chuck's father, a very wealthy and well-connected city/state power player who often uses his position to meddle in his son's affairs. He was abusive toward his ex-wife and frequently cheated on her. He had a child with, and then married, another woman. *

Kelly AuCoin Kelly AuCoin (born February 14, 1967) is an American actor who has appeared in film, television, and theater. He is best known as "Dollar" Bill Stern on '' Billions'' ( Showtime), and Pastor Tim on ''The Americans'' ( FX). He has had recurring ro ...

as "Dollar" Bill Stearn (recurring seasons 1–3 & 6; starring seasons 4–5): a portfolio manager at Axe Capital with such loyalty to Axelrod that he would risk incriminating himself to save him. He was described by AuCoin as "the cheapest millionaire in America". Dollar Bill frequently resorts to insider trading and other legally dubious measures to create high returns for Axe Capital. *

as Michael Thomas Aquinas Prince (recurring season 5; starring season 6) a business titan, grew up as small town Indiana farm boy, who seemingly wants to give back to society. Prince attended New Castle High School where he was named Mr. Basketball as a senior. In season 5, be becomes the founder of Michael Prince Capital and successor of Axelrod. In the sixth season, he tries to win hosting duties for the 2028 Summer Olympics in New York. *

Daniel Breaker Daniel Breaker (born June 2, 1980) is an American actor and comedian. He is best known for playing Donkey in ''Shrek The Musical''. Career Beginning his career in 2002, immediately after graduating from Juilliard, Breaker has performed in Off-Br ...

as Scooter Dunbar (recurring season 5; starring season 6): Michael Prince's right-hand man, later a co-right-hand alongside Wags. *

Sakina Jaffrey Sakina Jaffrey (born February 14, 1962) is an American actress. Early life Jaffrey was born in New York City, the youngest daughter of Indian-born parents, actress and food and travel writer Madhur Jaffrey, and actor Saeed Jaffrey. Her parent ...

as Daevisha "Dave" Mahar (starring season 6): A new helper of Rhoades, who joined him in order to fight with corruption, but forced to take down Prince with Chuck.

Recurring

Episodes

Production

Development

The series was ordered by

in March 2015, and the first season premiered on January 17, 2016. On January 26, 2016, the series was renewed for the second season, which premiered on February 19, 2017. Showtime confirmed in April 2017 that

, who is

, would be a series regular in the third season. ''Billions'' is considered to be the first American TV series to have a non-binary character.

, the inspiration for U.S. Attorney Chuck Rhodes who was portrayed by

, was somewhat critical of Giamatti's casting - jokingly referring to the

Italian American Italian Americans ( it, italoamericani or ''italo-americani'', ) are Americans who have full or partial Italian ancestry. The largest concentrations of Italian Americans are in the urban Northeast and industrial Midwestern metropolitan areas, ...

actor as "noted Indian American actor Paul Giamatti". On May 8, 2019, the series was renewed for a fifth season by Showtime, which premiered on May 3, 2020. Due to the

, only 7 episodes from Season 5 have aired as of February 2021. On October 1, 2020, Showtime renewed the series for a sixth season and

was promoted to series regular, with remaining episodes of Season 5 set to air in 2021. On February 15, 2022, Showtime renewed the series for a seventh season.

Broadcast

The first episode was made available on January 1, 2016, via video on demand services in the U.S. and via

CraveTV Crave (initially named CraveTV) is a Canadian subscription video on demand service owned by Bell Media. The service competes directly with other subscription-based over-the-top streaming services operating in Canada, primarily American-based se ...

in Canada. It premiered on Stan in Australia on January 27, 2016 and in Canada on

The Movie Network Crave (formerly The Movie Network or TMN) is a Canadian premium television network and streaming service owned by the Bell Media subsidiary of BCE Inc. Launched in 1983 as the national service First Choice, early difficulties and a subsequent ...

on January 17, 2016, simultaneous with the American broadcast.

Depiction of BDSM

The show captured the attention of the

community, as it features numerous depictions of BDSM activitiy, and the two main characters of Charles "Chuck" Rhoades, Jr and his wife Wendy Rhoades engage in BDSM scenes numerous times in the early seasons of the show. In addition, season 4 of the show depicts the character of Chuck Rhoades

coming out Coming out of the closet, often shortened to coming out, is a metaphor used to describe LGBT people's self-disclosure of their sexual orientation, romantic orientation, or gender identity. Framed and debated as a privacy issue, coming out of ...

as a practitioner of BDSM in a public political speech. The show's producers retained the services of noted BDSM lifestyle expert Olivia Troy as a consultant to help ensure the activities are portrayed both accurately and safely.

Reception

Critical response

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

, the series holds an overall approval rating of 88%, with a rating of 77% for season 1, 89% for season 2, 93% for season 3, 97% for season 4, and 86% for season 5. The site's critical consensus for the first season reads: "Despite a lack of likable characters, ''Billions'' soapy melodrama and larger-than-life canvas offer plenty of repeat viewing potential." For season 2 it reads: "An influx of new characters and a fresh narrative twist give ''Billions'' an added boost during its thoroughly entertaining second season." The site's critical consensus for the third season states: "Anchored by the performances of Paul Giamatti and Damian Lewis, the third season of ''Billions'' continues a convincing fable of greed, power and competition." On Rotten Tomatoes, the fourth season reads, "With tables turned and alliances formed, ''Billions'' fourth season goes full throttle with sharp dialogue, better rivalries, and bigger stakes." On

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

, the show has an overall score of 72. The first season has a weighted average score of 69 out of 100, based on reviews from 37 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews", while the second season has a score of 67 out of 100, based on reviews from 6 critics, also indicating "generally favorable reviews". Praise for the series has steadily grown over time—also on Metacritic, its third season scored a 77 out of 100, while its fourth holds a score of 87 out 100 based on reviews from 4 critics, indicating "universal acclaim". The show's coverage of the hedge fund industry has been widely recognized as realistic. In 2017, after introducing Taylor Mason (played by

) in season 2, ''Billions'' became the first American TV series to have a non-binary character and actor. The series has received positive comments because of its representation of

, with praise for its depiction of inclusion of gender-neutral singular ''they'' pronouns in the workplace.

Accolades

Lawsuits

''Billions'' has faced several lawsuits regarding both copyright infringement and defamation. The first, brought by Denise Shull and the ReThink group in 2019 ( Shull v Sorkin), alleged (among other things) that ''Billions'' ripped off Shull's book and based character "Wendy Rhoades" on her likeness. She also argues that ''Billions'' engaged her as a consultant on the show, but did not compensate or credit her for her time, as Shull claims is illustrated in a recently released video. The case was dismissed, but has since been appealed. In July, 2021, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit affirmed a lower court’s decision to dismiss the suit, saying that Shull’s book and the show are not substantially similar. The second, brought by the

Cayuga Nation The Cayuga Nation of New York is a federally recognized tribe of Cayuga people, based in New York, United States. Other organized tribes with Cayuga members are the federally recognized Seneca-Cayuga Tribe of Oklahoma and the Canadian-recognized ...

in 2020, argued that ''Billions'' defamed both the nation and its federal representative. In the show, the nation is depicted engaging in acts such as the illegal operation of a casino business, blackmail, and bribery. One of the Cayuga characters featured on the show had the same last name and occupation as a real-life member. The case was dismissed, but the Cayuga Nation is considering its options regarding appeals.

References

External links

* * {{Showtime Network programming 2010s American workplace drama television series 2010s American legal television series 2020s American workplace drama television series 2020s American legal television series 2016 American television series debuts English-language television shows Fictional rivalries Mass media portrayals of the upper class Serial drama television series Showtime (TV network) original programming Television shows directed by Steph Green Television shows set in Connecticut Television shows set in New York City BDSM-related mass media Television series about prosecutors