Television series

Billions

Billions is glossy, testosterone-fuelled combat between a US Attorney and a hedge fund titan, fought via subpoenas, wiretaps and ego rather than guns. It's less about markets than about appetite — for winning, for dominance, for being right. Whip-smart dialogue, gleeful cynicism, and the pleasure of watching two immovable objects refuse to yield across seven seasons.

TVMaze rating8.0

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Succession2018

The same appetite for power dressed in even sharper writing, following a media dynasty's children clawing for their father's throne. Funnier, crueller, and somehow more tragic than Billions ever tries to be.

But No one here is remotely likeable, and if you need a hero to root for, this show refuses you one entirely.

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Industry2020

Younger, hungrier bankers grinding themselves down inside a London trading floor. It has the same amoral swagger but trades Chuck and Axe's chess game for raw, exhausted survival.

But Deliberately disorienting jargon and a colder, more clinical tone than Billions' operatic showdowns.

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Damages2007

Glenn Close as a litigator every bit as ruthless as Chuck Rhoades, locked in a years-long legal war with a corporate villain. Twisty, paranoid, addictive courtroom warfare.

But The timeline-jumping structure is a puzzle box that some viewers find more exhausting than thrilling.

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The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

I, Claudius1976

Same structural core as Billions — two dynasties locked in escalating one-upmanship — just relocated from Manhattan boardrooms to imperial Rome, proving the power game is ancient.

A BBC miniseries about the Roman imperial court, where poisonings and betrayals replace subpoenas but the engine is identical: brilliant people destroying each other for supremacy. Derek Jacobi is extraordinary.

But Studio-bound 1970s production values and stagey performances will feel alien if you need modern polish.

I, Claudius poster
More like this (8)

Ozark2017

Money laundering replaces hedge funds, but the compulsive dealmaking and constant one-upmanship will feel instantly familiar. Bleaker, grimier, and just as compulsively watchable.

But Trades Billions' verbal fireworks for slow-burn dread — patience required before it pays off.

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The Big Short2015

The financial crisis explained by furious, funny outsiders who saw the collapse coming and bet against everyone else. Sharp, angry, and surprisingly easy to follow.

But Breaks the fourth wall constantly to explain finance jargon, which some find clever and others find grating.

The Big Short poster

Margin Call2011

One catastrophic night inside an investment bank as executives realise the firm is about to implode. Quieter and more claustrophobic than Billions, but just as merciless.

But Slow-burn and dialogue-heavy — there's no Axe-style spectacle, just dread accumulating in conference rooms.

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House of Cards2013

Swap Wall Street for Washington and you get the same relentless strategic warfare, just with votes instead of trades. Kevin Spacey's Frank Underwood is Chuck Rhoades with a different scoreboard.

But Quality nosedives in later seasons, and the real-world scandal around its lead casts a shadow over rewatching.

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Wall Street1987

The granddaddy of finance-as-bloodsport, with Gordon Gekko's greed monologue still echoing through every Axe Capital pitch meeting. Essential viewing for the genre's DNA.

But Dated visually and thematically simpler — good vs. greed, without Billions' murkier moral shading.

Wall Street poster

Suits2011

Slicker, soapier, and far less cynical, but it shares the same love of clever people out-talking each other in expensive suits. Comfort food for power-play addicts.

But Stakes are lower and consequences softer — this is Billions with the teeth filed down.

Suits poster

Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room2005

Billions turns financial hubris into swaggering drama; this documentary shows what that same hubris actually did to thousands of real employees, stripping away the glamour entirely.

A documentary that lays bare the real hubris and self-delusion Billions dramatizes as entertainment. Watching actual executives talk themselves into catastrophe is far more chilling than fiction.

But There's no Axe-style charisma to root for or against here — just grim, methodical corporate collapse and real human damage.

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Dynasty1981

Billions is Dynasty in a tailored suit — same obsession with wealth as identity and rivalry as sport, just filtered through prestige-TV seriousness instead of gleeful 1980s trash.

Oil money, shoulder pads, and family warfare played with zero restraint — this is the money-and-power drama with all subtlety surgically removed. Delirious, campy, utterly committed to excess.

But It's soap opera through and through, with acting and plotting that prize melodrama over any pretense of realism.

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