Billions: Damian Lewis will be returning to the show for season 7

As season 7 of Billions just got ordered by Showtime, Damian Lewis appeared on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert to announce, “Bobby’s back. Axe is back, and it’s exciting. He’s not been around for a couple of seasons.” Of course, he is referring to his character on the show, Bobby Axelrod. When the show premieres later this year, Lewis is set to appear in six of the season’s 12 episodes. In addition, Toney Goins, who plays Philip, has been promoted to a series regular.

According to Deadline, season 7 sees “alliances are turned on their heads. Old wounds are weaponized. Loyalties are tested. Betrayal takes on epic proportions. Enemies become wary friends. And Bobby “Axe” Axelrod returns, as the stakes grow from Wall Street to the world.” Along with Lewis, Billions co-stars Paul Giamatti, Corey Stoll, Maggie Siff, David Costabile, Asia Kate Dillon, Condola Rashad, Jeffrey DeMunn, Sakina Jaffrey, and Daniel Breaker. The cast is set to return as filming starts in New York.

Lewis had exited the show after season 5 due to the unfortunate passing of his wife, Helen McCrory. When Lewis bowed out for seemingly the last time, the actor posted on Instagram, “Thank you @SHO_Billions thank you @briankoppelman @DavidLevien. 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.”

Recently, Entourage creator Doug Ellin, went onto a podcast and called out the creators for stealing his idea. Ellin claims to have had an idea for a hedge fund-themed show and even implied he sought the help of the series writers and co-creators to help develop the idea. He states that he was able to sell the show to HBO, but the network ultimately ended up passing on it. Ellin expressed his extreme disappointment, “This was like kind of as low rent, lowlife s–t as can possibly be done…I want nothing out of this. I want the universe to take care of itself and burn them in f—ing hell.”

Billions is created and executive produced by showrunners Brian Koppelman and David Levien. Beth Schacter also serves as showrunner and executive producer in addition. The series was also created by Andrew Ross Sorkin.