It might be something a casual fan wouldn't understand, but clearly u/RusevReigns is referring to the role 9/11 plays in Bobby Axelrod's backstory and the rich lore of the Billions universe. Understandable that this might go over your head, as to be fair, you have to have a pretty high IQ (or just a lot of spare time) to get all the references in such an intelligently written show as Billions.

/s

I enjoyed him in Wolf Hall, and had totally forgotten about Life until your comment (I think for a couple years I would either conflate or confuse Life with that David Duchovny series Aquarius, even though the premises are totally different).

I'd also recommend The Escapist (plus you get Brian Cox planning a prison breakout).

Band of Brothers, however, will always be peak Damian Lewis. Between that and Billions, I feel like he's even better when his character has a sort of partner or best friend-type to play off of.

Losing Axe was inevitable eventually, albeit the timing and how it eventually came about were infinitely more tragic with the death of Helen McCrory. Even though (much like another Damian Lewis series) I think Billions should've ended long ago, I'm glad he's coming back towards what will (hopefully) be its end.

The introduction of Corey Stoll's Mike Prince was a solid enough remedy to losing Axe, although I think the season's overarching story and somewhat too-late criticism of billionaires left the series without a very clear sense of purpose or place; it spent too long painting its characters as flawed themselves, but doing nothing to criticize or otherwise caricature their ridiculously wealthy lives like, say, Succession does. More than that, it went the opposite direction, painting the Axe Capital cast of characters as universally "cool" (excepting 1-2 Big Bang Theory-style "nerd" caricatures written in later); they like "cool" things, drive "cool" cars, and the entire cast speaks fluently in that Billions-patented shorthand of "cool" references (to make you feel "cool" too whenever you recognize the reference), even though sometimes the dialogue feels like Sorkin's zippy West Wing walk-and-talk writing--but if Martin Sheen, Allison Janney, and Bradley Whitford were constantly trying to work references to Steve McQueen and Paul Newman movies into literally every exchange about foreign and domestic policy.

I really enjoyed the Mike Prince arc of the most recent seasons, especially early on when we're as skeptical and in the dark about his goals and motives as everybody else in the cast; I wasn't a fan of the outcome, but I think at the beginning the idea of basically an anti-Axe who appears genuinely preoccupied with using his wealth and resources to improve the lives of others and his community was inspired. He couldn't replicate Lewis'/Axe's presence, so they didn't even bother trying, and somehow managed a delicate balance between slowly winning the cast (and audience, by extension) over to his character's seemingly utopian "vision," while still acknowledging his god complex and major flaws as a person/husband/etc.

That said, I think bringing Damian Lewis back has a lot of potential, but could just as easily topple things just as this new version of Billions had found its footing. At the very least, it will be good to see Wags' reaction. I still think the series should've ended with like, the second/third season (honestly, maybe even the first, if they'd left it a little less open-ended). Like with Lewis' time on Homeland, I think it could've been a phenomenal character study as a limited or even anthology series, but it's still been solidly entertaining and certainly doesn't wast such a talented cast.

Ehh… I mean. Sure, in the most superficial sense, they are similar because both feature the lavish lives of the 1%. But they’re NOTHING alike in basically every other capacity.

Succession is about how dysfunctional and terrible the Roy family is because of their wealth and privilege, and the draw is in seeing the absurd shit and corporate maneuvering they attempt backfire in their faces. Meanwhile, despite being terrible people, there’s still a very real sense of sympathy for them as people, which is a testament to the casting and performances as much as the writing. They suck, but over time we see why they suck, and while they may have infinitely more than what most of us enjoy, they are maladapted, crippled by insecurities, neurotic.

Honestly, Billions is the worst possible comparison, but if you want a series that is basically the closest comparison, it’s actually another HBO series, The Righteous Gemstones. That series is essentially the megachurch version of Succession, with almost the exact same premise and composition of characters (the presumptuous heir apparent who isn’t the man he believes himself to be, the immature younger brother who clearly struggles with his sexuality, and the sister who fancies herself the clever one, but is just as fucked up as the others, and also has a punching bag husband she takes for granted).

edit: Was on mobile before.

To be clear, while I say Righteous Gemstones is the better comparison to Succession, by no means is it within the context of OP's prompt. Righteous Gemstones is a very good series, that just so happens to share the same premise as Succession. It just happens to go in a wildly different direction (as it should).

Meanwhile, Billions is about the rivalry between two titans of their respective realms, and how far they are willing to go to "win," even after it becomes self-destructive. There's ultimately no "winner," because the story always finds a way to preserve the status quo, and after 5+ seasons, Damian Lewis ultimately leaves the show for deeply personal reasons (the sudden loss of his wife), not because the story ultimately arrives at a conclusion as to who prevails in their rivalry. All throughout this time, while other billionaires may be presented as laughably out of touch with reality, Bobby Axelrod himself is generally treated as a "cool" character; someone many finance bro-types probably aspire to be like. And one wouldn't be able to blame them, because Billions does not attempt to present him as anything other than a demigod with near-supernatural powers of calculation in his ability to see the patterns of the market.

Bobby dresses cool, drives cool cars, and the show's use of "cool" cameos and constant (and I mean CONSTANT) references to pop culture make Bobby seem practically pulled right out of the version of cool-guy masculinity Esquire Magazine tries to sell. He's by no means a satire of wealth and privilege, he's like the young, Steve McQueen-version of Logan Roy from Succession, since both are meant to be the level-headed, intelligent sharks who arose from poverty to become titans of industry.

I'm sorry, they're just not comparable and have completely different themes, motifs, characters, and storylines.

Was pleasantly surprised at how good that series proved to be. Could never get into Vikings, which I could never understand because I absolutely devoured Black Sails, and the two are similar in many ways. Somehow, series like The Last Kingdom and Black Sails dealt with themes and characters I found more appealing.

That said, The Last Kingdom is good from the outset, but personally I believe it doesn't become great until the introduction of characters like Finan, and the loyal retinue that slowly begins to form around Uhtred.

For some reason, I remember thinking that a character like Uhtred and his development would have been a great template for Star Wars in the writing of a character like Anakin Skywalker. The emphasis on identity, on Uhtred's lifelong resentment of having his home and family taken from him, on his development from a solo warrior only interested in his own interests into a leader whose bravery and personality inspires loyalty, and especially how the series handles the tragic love that forms between >!Uhtred and Aethelflaed!<; all while remaining a genuinely funny, likeable person. It's a difficult tonal balance to strike, and I think the series deserves more credit for the fantastic job it does.

The only real issue (if you can call it that) is how it suffers from X-Men First Class-disorder, with regards to the passage of time and inconsistency of how certain characters age over five seasons. Characters grow old and die, children grow into adulthood, while others never seem to age a day; Uhtred himself lives what feels like several lifetimes, and only appears to have changed stylists (probably because the first one grew old and died).

I had the same idea! Mainly because the last two seasons would be devastating and dramatic, with the Mayerling Hall tragedy and then Franz Ferdinand’s assassination escalating into the Great War.

It was never queerbaiting, but it also was much more nuanced than just shipping two characters and then waiting for their connection to be confirmed as explicitly romantic.

Will and Hannibal have something far more intimate, and it’s no coincidence that both characters also each possess heightened states of awareness (empathy for Will, smell for Hannibal); they both understand one another so deeply that it makes the moral struggle for Will’s soul at the center of their conflict all the more meaningful. Neither wants to be the other’s enemy, and their intimacy and connection makes it one of the most compelling relationships in any series.

In many ways, they complete one another, but their entire story has a tragic quality of being doomed from the outset, since there’s no place in the world for the kind of existence Hannibal tries to tempt Will with. It’s a tragic romance that makes for one of the best “hero”-villain dynamics ever explored.