Bobby Axelrod has left the chat.
The Sunday, Oct. 3 season five finale marked actor Damian Lewis' exit from Showtime's Billions, as his character went into hiding abroad to escape a legal situation. And, when season six comes around in January 2022, it will be rival Mike Prince (Corey Stoll) who will be the leading billionaire.
On his departure from the series, Lewis shared with The New York Times that his character's story had been told in its entirety, adding, "It's difficult to keep mining, creatively...We know who he is."
Although Lewis' run on Billions has come to an end almost six months following wife Helen McCrory's death, he told the publication that this was not a factor in his decision. Per the Homeland alum, he "always just assumed that would be enough."
Still, a portion of season five was filmed in London, where Lewis' family is based. Billions creator and showrunner Brian Koppelman explained to the Times that they "wouldn't ask him to come to America [to film] in that situation."
Even though Lewis intends to remain in London for now, he isn't ruling out a return to Billions. "There's an opportunity maybe for me to return," he remarked. "But for now, broadly speaking, Axe has been vanquished."
While we may be struggling to accept this fact, this isn't the first time that an actor or actress has departed a hit show. For instance, back in August, it was revealed that Emily VanCamp was walking away from her series regular role on Fox's The Resident.
"We have such an incredible ensemble cast on The Resident," Michael Thorn, Fox's Entertainment President, said of the actress' exit in Sept. 2021. "Emily is certainly a big part of the show but like many ensemble dramas that have incredible creators behind it, we believe we're going to still really connect with our audience on the stories that we're telling this season."
For a closer look at these shocking exits, scroll through the images below!