Billions
Paul Giamatti and Damian Lewis star in Showtime's new series Billions Showtime

Paul Giamatti and Damian Lewis new series Billions has been picked up for a second season just two episodes into its first season. The series is a bold, contemporary drama that pits two highly ambitious opposing figures: blue-blooded, politically connected US Attorney Chuck Rhoades played by Paul Giamatti and brilliant, calculating, blue-collar billionaire Bobby "Axe" Axelrod played by Damian Lewis.

The opening episode of Wall Street drama garnered 6.5 million multiplatform viewers in its first week to set a Showtime record, reported Deadline. In addition to Lewis and Giamatti, Billions also stars Malin Akerman, Maggie Siff.

Episode 3 is titled, Yumtime, Sunday 31 January, 10pm ET/PT on Showtime. The official synopsis reads as follows:

Chuck learns that a rival has made inroads in the Axe case; Axe makes an activist play for a family-owned bakery corporation.

Click here to watch it online on Showtime and you can also watch the episode online via Showtime Anytime (only in US). Paul Giamatti spoke about his character Chuck Rhoades, who becomes hell-bent on taking down Lewis' Bobby Axelrod.

Giamatti told Entertainment Weekly, "It kept reminding me of Les Misérables. There's this driven policeman who's going after the other guy, who has stolen more than a loaf of bread. It's almost like, why is he so f***ing obsessed?! It also reminds of a very pre-empire Rome, and Cicero going after all those rich Romans who were threatening the integrity of the empire. Debauched, yet with all these virtues underneath all the fat."

Speaking about his billionaire character, Damian Lewis said, "He's a passionate, driven, brilliant, but not overly educated man, and I think he's gotten to where he's gotten because he's quicker and more ruthless than many others. He's sort of been written a little bit like a superhero. He lives in a rarified atmosphere where he seems to outperform and outthink everybody."