Paul Giamatti on Bidding Billions Goodbye: ‘I Wish I Could Do It Again’ (Exclusive)

If only Paul Giamatti knew then what he knows now. 

Speaking to PEOPLE about his Critics Choice Award-nominated Showtime drama Billions, which aired its series finale in October, the actor says he wasn't ready to say goodbye.

“I wish I could do it again,” Giamatti, 56, admits.

In fact, that goes for most of his screen projects, from his Emmy-winning titular role in the 2008 miniseries John Adams to his scene-stealing, Oscar-nominated performance in 2005’s Cinderella Man. 

“Pretty much anything I did, I wish I could go back and do it again now,” says the four-time Emmy nominee with a laugh.

But Giamatti is feeling his inner perfectionist especially now in the aftermath of Billions, which, as the actor points out, is unlike any other endeavor in his long career.

“That's the longest I've ever done anything, one character for that long,” he says of playing prosecutor Chuck Rhoades on the hit legal drama. "By the end of it, I was very comfortable and sort of like, ‘Oh, I think I get this guy now.’ So in a way, yeah, I wish I could go back and start it again."

Created by Brian Koppelman, David Levien and Andrew Ross Sorkin, Billions began in 2016 and spanned seven seasons. Loosely inspired by real-life federal prosecutions of financial crime, the drama followed Rhoades’ attempts to hold hedge fund manager Bobby “Axe” Axelrod (Damian Lewis) accountable.

Among the series’ main cast were Maggie Siff, Condola Rashad, David Costabile, Asia Kate Dillon and Kelly AuCoin, with Corey Stoll joining latter seasons.

This February, Showtime announced that four different Billions spin-offs were in the works: Billions: Miami, Billions: London, Trillions and Millions.

So how exactly would Giamatti approach his character if he could start the series over? “I'd be a little bit more relaxed about it,” says the actor. 

Of acting in long-form TV roles, he continues, “It's probably the rare thing not to get painted into a corner… I kind of locked myself into some things that then [the writers] locked me into, like, ‘Well, that works.’”

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As for what he’s taking away from the experience, Giamatti’s goal is clear: “I want to do something for that long again.” 

“If I do,” he adds, “I'm going to be way more relaxed and loose about how we start it so that I'm not frozen into something.”

Giamatti has no such projects in the works as of yet — but with those Billions spin-offs, his desire to revisit Chuck Rhoades could still be fulfilled. His new movie The Holdovers, from director Alexander Payne and screenwriter David Hemingson, is in theaters now.

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