How does 'Billions' end? Axe falls on a rival. Your guide to the dramatic series finale
Spoiler alert: The following contains details of "Admirals Fund," the series finale of Showtime's "Billions."
There could be only one Machiavellian daddy standing in the "Billions" finale revenge showdown between Bobby "Axe" Axelrod (Damian Lewis) and his hedge fund usurper (and dangerous presidential candidate) Michael Prince (Corey Stoll).
After seven seasons of cutthroat high-finance drama and power struggles, "Billions" went endgame with the titan matchup in Showtime's series finale (now streaming on Paramount+; airing on Showtime Sunday 8 EDT/PDT).
But the entire cast of characters featuring ever-evolving allegiances got its due, including longtime Axe persecutor U.S. Attorney Chuck Rhoades (Paul Giamatti), now working with his former nemesis to bring down Prince. The multi-pronged farewell episode even featured former U.S. Attorney Bryan Connerty (Toby Leonard Moore), who hadn't been a "Billions" regular since Chuck engineered his legal problems and prison stint in Season 4 for illegal wiretapping. Connerty made a surprise appearance to receive his reinstated law license, also engineered by Chuck as a peace offering.
"This show was for the show superfans; we found the ultimate landing spot for all these characters," says Brian Koppelman, who created the series with David Levien and Andrew Ross Sorkin.
The final positions from the "Billions" finale:
Axe made Prince a pauper, and resumed his office chair throne
Prince helped orchestrate Axe's downfall in Season 5, which allowed him to get his greedy hands on Axe Capital. As Axe, the heavy-metal-T-shirt-wearing Road Runner of finance, realized he had finally been defeated by Prince, he uttered the line "So this is what it is like to lose."
In real life, Lewis was leaving "Billions" to return to life in England for personal reasons. So Axe was written off (exiled to Switzerland) to avoid arrest by Chuck, thanks to a tipoff from Prince. Prince took over Axe's throne and renamed the kingdom Michael Prince Capital (MPC).
With Lewis and Axe back for the final season, the downfall script was reversed. Axe returned to New York, with Chuck's help and urging, to join the team trying to stop Prince. The Never Princers, who included MPC's general counsel Kate Sacker (Dola Rashad), conspired to annihilate Prince's stock portfolio while the unsuspecting presidential candidate met the U.S. president at Camp David, as his mobile phone was locked up by Marine security.
With the trap sprung, Prince flew into MPC in a rage. Showing the volatile side no one wanted to see responsible for nuclear weapons, Prince threw a printer through the office window of Chuck co-conspirator and ex-wife Wendy Rhoades (Maggie Siff).
Prince bottled his rage seeing Axe and an office full of former employees present to witness his financial demise and presidential ambitions crushed in one bad news day.
"So yeah Mike, this is what it's like to lose," Axe said to Prince, parroting his own line, with a very different subject.
"I bet that felt good," Prince sneered back.
"What does it say about someone who wants to throw somebody's words back in their face? Not great things," says Levien of the line. "That's why we found it so satisfying."
Big winner Axe reclaimed his office chair with no trumpets, but only his faithful lieutenant Mike "Wags" Wagner (David Costabile) standing just behind him.
While Prince hid dark ambitions behind noble ideas, Axe sent his traders out with the capitalist battle cry "Let's make some ... money!" with The Steve Miller Band's ode to bandit living, "Take the Money and Run," playing as the exit soundtrack.
"That song felt just absolutely perfect for the show," Koppelman says.
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Prince went down defiantly, vowing revenge
With Humpty Dumpty falling off the financial wall and Prince's world in tatters, even his loyalists disbanded. Right-hand man Scooter Dunbar (Daniel Breaker) saw the light and realized how far the power duo had drifted in its quest for power. Finding he has been spared financial ruin, Scooter announced he's embarking on his dream of conducting an orchestra.
In classic villain mode, Prince admitted defeat but vowed to return and financially crush Axe and anyone else who knocked him. "This country is built on second acts, and when you see mine, you better duck and cover," Prince said.
"People like Prince are not laid low by things that would lay all of us low," Koppelman says. "In three years, the guy will somehow have bought The Sphere off James Dolan."
Chuck and Wendy end up laughing over dinner
Chuck, the main Axe battler in many season finales, relished the slightly less sexy victory over Prince. Chuck also finally came up triumphant in his personal life. Wendy and Chuck's marriage, and vigorous BDSM sex life, had ended acrimoniously after Wendy worked for years as Axe Capital's high-end performance coach.
But "Billions" ended with the two exes smiling as Wendy walked out of Axe Capital moments after turning down Axe's return to work offer. Wendy and Chuck agreed to go on a family dinner with their two children.
The final shot featured Wendy and Chuck laughing at dinner with their kids, as noted chef Connerty performed impressive culinary tricks on the teppanyaki (Moore's real-life cooking skills were often highlighted).
Wendy and Chuck don't resume life as a couple, "but they settled their issues, coming to a great place of mutual understanding, fondness and co-parenting," Levien says.