Season 3 of Billions is going to see more of Taylor Mason.
Deadline reports that actor Asia Kate Dillon has been upped to a series regular for Billions‘ third season. Dillon first appeared in season two as a new, brilliant financial mind at Axe Capital.
Dillon plays the first gender non-binary character in a TV drama, and has submitted for a Supporting Actor nomination for the 2017 Emmy race. When submitting, Dillon wrote a letter to the TV Academy and asked about the ‘actor’/’actress’ category differentiation.
“I’d like to know if in your eyes ‘actor’ and ‘actress’ denote anatomy or identity and why it is necessary to denote either in the first place?” Dillon wrote. “The reason I’m hoping to engage you in a conversation about this is because if the categories of ‘actor’ and ‘actress’ are in fact supposed to represent ‘best performance by a person who identifies as a woman’ and ‘best performance by a person who identifies as a man’ then there is no room for my identity within that award system binary. Furthermore, if the categories of ‘actor’ and ‘actress’ are meant to denote assigned sex I ask, respectfully, why is that necessary?”
Dillon was pleased with the response from the Academy, which said that “anyone can submit under either category for any reason.” Dillon praised the Academy’s response, saying, “They’ve been totally kosher about the whole thing. They’ve been nothing but supportive and their message of inclusivity has been really, really wonderful.”
Showtime’s Billions, created by Brian Koppelman, was recently picked up for a third season. The series centers on the bitter rivalry between federal prosecutor Bobby “Axe” Axelrod and hedge fund manager Charles “Chuck” Rhoades. It stars Damian Lewis, Paul Giamatti, Maggie Siff, Malin Akerman, Toby Leonard Moore and Daniel K. Isaac.