Showtime’s complex new drama pilot, Billions, looks set to explore the world of high finance. It doesn’t sound like the most thrilling concept for a series, except that is, when you throw a couple of extremely talented actors into the mix. Showing us the money will be Homeland‘s Damian Lewis and Paul Giamatti, who’ve both been tapped to star as the show’s leads. It’s through their experiences that we’ll presumably find high finance to be rather fascinating.
Here’s the first official synopsis for the series:
Billions is a fictional drama that takes a forensic look at the world of high finance by tracking the approaching collision between two titanic figures — the hard-charging, whip-smart U.S. Attorney Chuck Rhodes (Giamatti), and the brilliant, ambitious hedge-fund king, Bobby “Axe” Axelrod (Lewis).
Could be that this has the making of a House Of Cards-inspired show. The back-biting and duplicitous actions of the business world would serve as perfect fodder for dramatic material, and both actors have played their fair share of swindlers. Pitting the two pair at loggerheads for the show will be Divergent director Neil Burger, who’s set to helm the pilot episode in early 2015 from a script by Brian Koppelman, David Levien and Andrew Ross Sorkin.
The series will be a reunion ground for both of the leads. Lewis will celebrate a return to the network, following his award-winning stint as Nicholas Brody on Homeland. And as for Giamatti, he’ll be taking direction once more from Burger with whom he previously worked with on 2006 magician caper, The Illusionist.
We’ll keep you posted when more news lands on Billions.
