Billions Shocker: Damian Lewis Exits After 5 Seasons!

When Billions returns for Season 6, it will be without one of its original stars.

Damian Lewis exited the Showtime drama on its fifth season finale Sunday night.

The episode focused heavily on his Bobby Axelrod character as he escaped to Switzerland to escape State Attorney General Chuck Rhoades.

“What an incredible joy to spend five years working so closely with the great @lewis_damian!” co-creator/showrunner Brian Koppelman shared on Twitter of the exit.

“[Co-creator] @DavidLevien and I are beyond grateful to you, Damian, for the work, of course, and the fellowship, and for all you sacrificed to come do this with us.”

The actor's wife, Helen McCrory, died of cancer earlier this year.

Lewis was with the Showtime hit since the beginning and will be replaced on the upcoming sixth season by Corey Stoll's Mike Prince.

The aforementioned sixth season gets underway Sunday, January 23 at 9/8c. The reason for the smaller than usual hiatus is because the second half of the fifth season was delayed due to COVID-19.

After those episodes were produced, the cast pressed on with production to get a steady stream of episodes back for fans.

But what will the sixth season be about?

Rhoades “must develop a new strategy that is keener and more sophisticated than before,” reads the official description.

“All the players, from Wags (played by David Costabile) to Wendy (Maggie Siff), from Taylor (Asia Kate Dillon) to Sacker (Condola Rashad), and of course Senior (Jeffrey DeMunn), must sharpen their weapons and look for new alliances in order to survive."

"The ground is ever shifting and the stakes absolute. New king, new war, new rules.”

This marks the second Showtime series Lewis has parted ways with before the series finale.

He played Nicholas Brody on the first four seasons of Homeland.

It's unclear at this stage whether he could return to Billions down the line, but the character remains alive which could indicate an involvement later in the run.

There's no telling how long the series will last. It has enjoyed much success at Showtime, but the network tends to let shows end around their sixth or seventh seasons.

What are your thoughts on the news?

Hit the comments below and watch the Season 6 trailer.

Paul Dailly was an Associate Editor for TV Fanatic.Follow him on X.