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***This interview contains spoilers from theseason four finaleofBillions.
Here they discuss their reasoning behind some of the episodes major creative decisions.
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
So why make them adversaries again?
Brian Koppelman:It goes to who these characters are and what drives them.
How are two people like that going to just coexist peacefully?
It doesnt seem that they ultimately, long term, could.
I am still processing Chucks big reveal of how he finally got his revenge on Jock and Bryan.
How did you come up with and keep straight all the intricacies of Chucks season-long entrapment scheme?
David Levien:Well, it wasnt just us.
The writers room really pitched in coming up with the bones of this overplot.
So, wed been planning it along the whole way.
Koppelman:We would be working with and telling the actors about it too.
The primary players in the con were Chuck and Charles Senior, so Paul Giamatti and Jeffrey DeMunn.
The actors were able to play this stuff being aware of what they were doing.
the Ice Juice scheme].The Stingwas one of our favorite movies when we were kids.
Weve been studying how to do this for a very, very long time.
I loved watching Bryan Connerty slide from being an idealistic lawyer into a vindictive one.
So is this it for Connerty?
Koppelman:You gotta keep watching the show.
We never speak to which way the future is going to go.
Partially because we havent written season five yet.
ButToby [Leonard Moore]is so smart.
Am I the Idiot?
And we said, You are, sir.
And he went, Oh, fantastic!
He was so excited to play it.
Toby loves playing that stuff.
Hes been a wonderful partner to work with.
So it becomes a question of not whether shell be back but in what capacity.
Can a relationship survive?
Axe laid it all out there in that very dark admission.
He knew the answer was probably gonna be no, but he wasnt hoping that.
Unfortunately, it just made the thing seem just more credible in the way the world works.
Season four gave us a lot more insight into howemotionally damagedChuck has been since childhood.
Koppelman:I think thats for you to speculate.
Youre exactly right, you just laid out the central question for Chuck going forward.
But whether he can, well, you know.
Where is the Rhoades marriage at this point?
Levien: Yeah, we joke around that were like a snout-to-tail operation.
Like any special skill that the actors have, eventually were gonna get it in there.
And were gonna do it without a body double, its gonna be Damian Lewis playing.
So then we just figured out how to getMaria Sharapova.
Basically, if you reveal something, were going to use it.
What can you tease forseason five?
Levien:A lot of ins, a lot of outs.
A lot of what-have-yous.
Koppelman:This season was veryBillions.
Next season is going to be very, veryBillions.
