Damian Lewis reveals take on ‘Billions’ series finale — and if he’d lead a TV series again
Bobby Axelrod has entered the chat.
Damian Lewis is “really satisfied” with how “Billions” ended last year. The actor departed the show in 2021 after Season 5, before returning for the final, seventh season, including the series finale.
“I think the guys — Brian Koppelman and David Levine — I think they ended it really beautifully. It was very sentimental. It was very ‘Billions-sy,'” the 53-year-old exclusively told The Post while promoting his new movie, “The Radleys.”
“There wasn’t some sort of poisonous opaque ending. It was really kind of like a love letter,” he continued. “Old characters were brought back and things were sort of wrapped up and tied up but it was very sweet. It gave the fans a chance to be with all their favorite characters again.”
“Billions” also starred Paul Giamatti, Maggie Siff, David Costabile, Dola Rashad, Daniel K. Isaac, Jeffrey DeMunn, Asia Kate Dillon, Corey Stoll and Daniel Breaker.
There were even rumblings of a spinoff happening at one point, too.
“There was talk of a lot of spinoffs. This, that and the other,” he said. “But the TV landscape, as you well know, has changed so much just in the last couple of years. So I don’t think those are all gonna happen.”
But Lewis will never say never when it comes to being the leading man on a television show again.
“Oh, God, yeah, 100 percent,” he said. “Of course. I mean, it’s just, what I’m doing right now suits me from a family point of view. I’m playing music and I’m really enjoying doing that as well. I’ve just got sort of bits and pieces going on and I can be with my kids. So, it just sort of suits me.
He added: “You know, they’ll be a moment. There’ll be a moment if someone asks me. It could all dry up. But yeah, I’m sure there will be — I hope there’ll be a moment.”
These days, fans can catch Lewis in his new comedy/ horror film, “The Radleys,” which follows a family with a big secret: they’re vampires.
The British actor took a moment to reflect on what it was like playing dual vampires: the father of the family, Peter, and his twin brother, Will.
“A lot of fun,” Lewis described the experience. “Playing that sort of darker, the duality that we all have in our psyches. The darker, more sort of desirous, lustful, carnal selves and we temper all the time with the more rational, sensible, side of ourselves. So really playing that sort of duality was just great fun.”
He also shared a highlight of filming the movie with co-stars Bo Bragason, Harry Baxendale and Jay Lycurgo.
“I think working with the youngsters was really refreshing,” Lewis said. “The three main guys, Harry Baxendale, Jay Lycurgo, Bo Bragason. They are three really exciting young actors. I loved their energy. I love their take on life and things.
“I love that wild-eyed curiosity, their willingness to learn, and just their excitement about starting out,” he added. “I remember that. And, it was really nice to be around.”
Reflecting on his own career, Lewis has some sound advice that he wished he had received when he was starting out.
Find ways to practice,” he suggested, “because being an actor is difficult when the phone isn’t ringing. Where do you go to be an actor? So I just encourage everybody to just get a couple of bottles and cheap bread and sit on your bed with five friends and read plays.”
Authenticity is key, too.
“Just stay active, stay involved. And then the other one is be yourself. I made a couple of mistakes early on when I was young thinking I had to present in a certain way in an audition because I was really keen to get a role. And actually, you just come across as weird. So don’t do that. Just be yourself and it’s going to fit something and then once you’re away you’ll fly.”
As for how Lewis’ kids, Gulliver, 16, and Manon, 18, feel about his role as the patriarchal vampire?
“They’re used to it,” he said of his decadeslong career. “Yeah, you know, a little eye roll and ‘There goes dad again.’ Now they’re used to it. They loved it.” (Lewis’ late wife, “Peaky Blinders” actress Helen McCrory, died at age 52 from breast cancer in 2021.)
“They love the film. They were up at the premiere at the Edinburgh Film Festival,” Lewis added. “They loved it. It’s a good age to see it at.”
And throughout his years in the industry, the “Homeland” alum’s choice in roles has shifted.
“My mindset has changed a little bit,” confessed Lewis. “Probably relaxed a little bit. When things go well, that’s relaxing. So, for me, I’ve been very lucky. Things have gone well. And so you can make some different kinds of decisions. I’m very fussy, though, about choosing jobs.
“I’ve never been very good at going, ‘Oh, that’s filming in the Bahamas in January. Fantastic. I’ll take it.’ I’m not very good at that. And I’m not very good at just jumping on friends’ projects either. It’s really got to be good. I have a lot of fun in my life when I’m not working, and I kind of feel that when I’m working, it’s got to be really worthwhile. That’s my view.”
Looking toward the future, Lewis has one genre in mind that he would love to try out.
“A Western,” said the star. “I’m thinking of the Westerns I grew up on. My generation was a lot of Clint Eastwood Westerns, all those. And ‘Unforgiven’ was just his kind of masterpiece that sort of ended up at. ‘Fistful of Dollars,’ all those kinds. ‘Outlaw Josey Wales,’ [was] fantastic. A Western, I would love to do a Western.”
