Showtime is expanding the Billions world in a major way, announcing Monday that it’s planning up to four spinoff series connected to the long-running high-finance drama, including iterations being developed under the working titles Millions and Trillions. Chris McCarthy, the Paramount executive who took over Showtime in October, revealed the network’s plans in an interview with The Wall Street Journal.
Billions co-creators Brian Koppelman and David Levien are developing a spinoff of the drama set in Miami, McCarthy revealed, set in the world of private aviation, “where the clientele believe the rules of society, government and gravity don’t apply to them, amidst the wealth, nightlife, contraband and the cryptocurrency that pulses through that city,” as per Deadline.
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Billions producers will also oversee the development of a possible London-based spinoff as well as two planned members of the Billions family – Millions, which followers younger characters on the financial come-up, and Trillions, a “soapier” take on the ultrarich segment of society and titans of industry.
McCarthy also confirmed to WSJ that a Dexter prequel is also in the works after Paramount Global chief executive Bob Bakish announced last week the merging of Showtime with the Paramount+ streaming service to form Paramount+ with Showtime. The upcoming Dexter prequel series will also be set in the main character Dexter Morgan’s hometown of Miami and will dive into Morgan’s origin story while also incorporating stories of real-life serial killers of the time.
Showtime previously found success with Dexter’s recent sequel series, Dexter: New Blood, which set viewership records for the network. McCarthy revealed that New Blood is likely to continue with a second season in the future, and that the network is also exploring spinoffs about the origin stories of other Dexter characters, including the Trinity Killer, who was by John Lithgow in the original series run.
“Of course we’re going to do new shows,” McCarthy hedged, citing the return of Emmy-nominated series Yellowjackets next month. “But we’re going to do [originals] in a way that has a much more stable base because we’ll have these big tentpoles that bring and hold the audience.”
