‘Billions’ comes to Paul Smiths
Crews filming seventh season at White Pine Camp, Paul Smith’s College this week
PAUL SMITHS — The cut-throat world of Wall Street has come to Paul Smiths this week as film crews with the Showtime-produced show “Billions” are filming its seventh season around the snow-covered town, at the White Pine Camp and on Paul Smith’s College’s campus.
Filming in the area is scheduled to wrap today.
Showtime’s Senior Vice President and Entertainment Public Relations spokesperson Amanda Cary said “Billions” is shot on a “closed set” so the Enterprise could not take photos of production. The Enterprise asked several questions, but Cary said they cannot share any information at this stage in production but could reveal more when the season gets closer to airing.
Showtime has not yet announced an airing date for the new season.
The show focuses on a game of cat and mouse between hedge fund managers and federal attorney Chuck Rhoades, played by Paul Giamatti, as the wealthy work hard to keep one step ahead of the the law trying to bring them down. The characters in the show are sometimes based on real-life people — Rhoades as former U.S. District Attorney Preet Bharara, and the Wall Street moguls as amalgamations of actual financial fat-cats the writers have spent time around.
The big “Billions” news for followers of the show is that fan-favorite character Bobby Axelrod, played by Damien Lewis, is expected to be returning after a season-long hiatus.
It is unclear if the episode, or episodes, filmed here will be set in the Adirondacks or elsewhere.
At the end of season five, Bobby Axelrod fled to Switzerland to avoid the law.
On roads around town, there are yellow signs pointing to “Base Camp,” “Catering” and “Billions.”
Outside the college’s forestry cabin on Wednesday there were lights up on scaffolding pointing in to the second floor of the cabin.
Employees of the show, who did not want to be named because of secrecy around the show’s production, said they were enjoying being in the Adirondacks. The show is primarily set in New York City, so this was a welcome winter location for them to be working at, they said.
Staff of the show were very tight-lipped on Wednesday, not revealing anything about the show to avoid leaks and spoilers.