The actress had a blast getting snippy with her BFF Paul Giamatti in Season 6.
Condola Rashad ’s Kate Sacker is an ace . FromSeason 1 ofBillions , back when she was the Assistant United States Attorney to Paul Giamatti ’s Chuck Rhodes , Kate ’s acuity was obvious . She could trade barbs and deep - cut tonic - culture extension with the best of them . She soaked up Chuck ’s battles with the billystick , namely with Damien Lewis ’ Bobby Axelrod , until they run him out of townat the end of Season 5 . And then , as Chuck ’s mission against the moral vileness of openhearted wealthiness , represented by Corey Stoll ’s Mike Prince , turned into a gnash crusadein Season 6 , she did what was previously unthinkable in theBillions - rhyme : going over to the private sector to head Prince ’s sound counsel as he made a bid for New York to host the Olympics in 2028 . Chuck did not moderate words over his distaste for her determination , pitting the two against each other in tense , venomous face - offs over who ’s in the moral right .
“ Me and Paul had so much fun doing those scenes , ” Rashad says over Zoom last hebdomad about working with Giamatti this season , particularly the last two episodes , “ Succession ” and “ Cold Storage . ” “ Everybody on set have sex if me and Paul are foretell on the same day , it ’s going to be laughter on set , just shenanigans galore . We are troublemakers . It ’s been like that for six years . Literally , I ’m ride - or - go Paul Giamatti . Like , he ’s genuinely one of my best Friend . I get laid him so much , and so we just have so much fun . ”
Even before Sunday dark ’s finis — where Kate help oneself Prince pull out off an ankle - breaking move on her former mentor , baiting him into a game of chicken over crypto codification that shortly landed him in jail and be Prince $ 3.5 billion — the fan response to Kate ’s type pivot this season has been by all odds divided . On Twitter ( and at Thrillist ) , people are elated that she at last struck out on her own . “ It ’s funny , I get substance like , ‘ You betrayed Chuck . I ca n’t look at it . ’ I ’m like , ‘ Well , Ididn’t do anything . I ’m just play the function , ’ ” Rashad says , express joy . “ Even when masses meet me , they ’re always very , very shocked , because they ’re like , ‘ Oh , you ’re not like [ Kate ] . You ’re kind of a goofball . ’ in reality , if there are any grapheme I ’ve ever played , she ’s kind of like the farthest aside from my factual personality . ”
Condola Rashad as Kate Sacker in ‘Billions.'|Illustration by Chineme Elobuike/Thrillist; photo courtesy of Showtime
Rashad is n’t wrong ; over our video call , she ’s downright effervescent—“Sagittarius sis ! ! " we squeal when I evidence her her natal day is the day before mine . It ’s no doubt a far outcry from the stoical Kate Sacker , who sustain an unreadable poker fount when the stakes are in high spirits or counters a personal credit line she notice ridiculous with a perfect , hilarious side glance or middle roll . “ essentially any thoughts that I ’m stimulate , unless I ’m actively not supposed to show what I ’m thinking , I do just permit them to just be present , even for a 2nd , and then get it go , covering it immediately , ” says Rashad , who started her playing career in theater , rack up four Tony nominations between 2012 and 2018 , and shore snatch part on shows likeThe Good Wife , before getting throw onBillions . “ [ TV and theater are ] the same energy , just channel differently . That ’s definitely something that I had to learn how to channel in a specific style for the tv camera . ”
UntilBillionsstarts shooting Season 7 in the fall , Rashad is reconnecting with field this summer in Italy , a body politic she ’s felt a recondite link to all the path back when she visited for the first metre as a kid with her female parent , actress Phylicia Rashad , good known for playing Claire Huxtable . “ Even as a 9 - yr - old , there was a feeling of like , ‘ I have sex I ’m not from here , but am I from here , though ? ’ ” Rashad order from an flat in Milan . “ I had n’t seen any of the iconic picture . I had no pre - preconceived notions . It had something to do with the terra firma and the country itself . It was like a memory of mine . And even with the language , I was like , ‘ Do I see what you ’re saying ? ’ ” These days , she indeed does see what they ’re saying : She ’s near fluent in Italian , and is using her particular lot of skills to be an “ embassador for harmonious intercultural relations ” abroad , get together with other artists outside of her comfort zona .
“ For me , what it means to be an creative person is not to just go where it ’s the strong , or where you will get the most pic or whatever , ” Rashad say . “ That ’s all fine , nothing against that . However , the heart of it for me , peculiarly in this day and age , it ’s really more so about associate . For me , this is how I can really give back to us , to our society as a global environment . ”
Condola Rashad and Corey Stoll in ‘Billions’ Season 6.|Showtime
But back toBillions . Now that Season 6 has hit the reset push yet again , with Chuck out for blood in a special ops foreign mission at the behest of his attorney worldwide heir , Sakina Jaffrey ’s Daevisha Mahar , and Prince about to establish his hunting expedition for President of the United States of the United States , Kate is in an opportunistic but precarious situation . She had been explore the reality of her own political dream throughout the time of year , unearth some take dirt about her politician dad that get her out of trouble in college , and fail for the first meter in her life , in front of her Modern friend in Prince , Wags ( David Costabile ) , and Scooter ( Daniel Breaker ) no less , who all scoffed when she tried to reconcile .
“ What does it mean for someone who have got themselves to a certain measure and has take on it all the meter , so literally does not know how to figure failure ? ” Rashad says . “ I think , she ’s not a robot , but basically in that moment , she kind of is . Like , my wires are not able to compute what ’s happening , so this is the part where I walk away now , because I do n’t know what ’s bump . She ’s been raised by people that love her , but the agency that was interpret was like , ‘ We ’re going to learn you how to be a fierce queen on a chessboard . ’ That ’s how she knows how to move through space . In term of the riposte from it , it was just a affair of allowing that feeling of failure to be the thing that completely reignite her , essentially . ”
While Kate being in the secret sector has given Rashad the hazard to play in a new variety of sandpit , getting scenes with Wendy ( Maggie Siff),Taylor ( Asia Kate Dillon ) , and other Mike Prince Capital figures , she does neglect being regular scene partners with Giamatti . “ Honestly , I ’d say the only downside [ of this season ] is that I did n’t get to play as much with Paul , so other than miss Paul , this time of year was so much playfulness for me to get into . like to the two worlds that are represent on tv camera , even behind the scenes , it ’s a totally different experience . ”
Condola Rashad and Paul Giamatti in ‘Billions’ Season 6.|Showtime
When I expect what she wants for Kate moving forward , I do put some of my own hopes out there : Will she rag Prince ’s coattail and then chomp on the men around her when she go out her opening ? “ I think that that sounds in line with what I would think her to do , ” Rashad concur . “ [ Prince has ] actually given her room to do what it is that she does , whereas she did n’t really have that before . And even the blow of learning about her past at school , and how that set her back a little turn — I do n’t think that ’s cash in one’s chips to be something that whole derails her . I think it ’s just a matter of just being more strategic and continue in a blank space that allow her to in reality be able-bodied to recoup and regroup . Either that , or she just find a means to stand out ship on everybody and does her own matter solely . ”
But if there ’s one matter she ’s eager for more of , it ’s fighting with Giamatti . “ Honestly , there were sometimes we would be doing a picture , and we would literally just start laughing because of how bitchy it was . We were like , ‘ Yeah , we ’re totally having a buff ’ quarrel right now . ’ At some item , everyone was like , ‘ cat , get a room already . ’ I hope there ’s more of it , ” Rashad adds . “ It ’s so much merriment to be snippy with Paul Giamatti . ”
