Los Angeles: Emmy winner Damian Lewis will no longer play Bobby Axelrod, aka Axe, on the Showtime series “Billions”.
The actor has exited the Wall Street drama, which comes from Brian Koppelman and David Levien, after featuring in five seasons.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, the season five finale of “Billions” aired on Sunday night.
The show revolves around Wall Street maverick Bobby Axelrod (Lewis) and US Attorney Chuck Rhoades, played by Paul Giamatti, involved in a cat and mouse game.
Lewis bid adieu to the “Billions” cast and crew in a tweet he shared on Monday morning.
“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,” the actor wrote on Twitter.
Actors Giamatti, Corey Stoll and Maggie Siff will return for the sixth season, which will premiere on January 23.
Daniel Breaker, who stars as Scooter, the chief of staff to Michael Prince (Stoll), has been upped to series regular.
The network said that the upcoming season will find Axe gone and Prince assuming his place.
Meanwhile, Chuck (Giamatti) must develop a new strategy that is keener and more sophisticated than before. All the players — Wags (David Costabile), Wendy (Siff), Taylor (Asia Kate Dillon), Sacker (Condola Rashad) and Senior (Jeffrey DeMunn) — must “sharpen their weapons and look for new alliances in order to survive”.
Stoll joined the show as a guest star in season five as a new threat to Axe. Stoll, also known for “House of Cards”, was last year promoted to series regular for season six.