On the 30th anniversary of Martin Scorsese‘s Casino, the Oscar-winning filmmaker is returning to the world of Las Vegas gambling with a drama series greenlighted by Netflix. It is created by Billions co-creators Brian Koppelman and David Levien, who serve as showrunners on the untitled project.
The eight-episode drama is set in the high-stakes, sharp-elbowed present-day Las Vegas casino business, which is a modernized but still dangerous version of the legendary city. At the center of it stands Robert “Bobby Red” Redman, president of the hottest hotel casino in town, who has to make some long odds moves to try and secure his position and take more ground.
Koppelman and Levien executive produce with Paul Schiff (The Inheritance), who runs their company Best Available, alongside Scorsese and his Sikelia Productions, Julie Yorn and Rick Yorn for Expanded Media, and former Billions writer-producer Beth Schacter, with Kerry Orent (The Better Sister) serving as co-executive producer.
Watch on Deadline
The project can be traced back to a general idea Julie Yorn and Rick Yorn brought to Netflix with longtime collaborator Scorsese, who is managed by Rick Yorn. The streamer had been talking to Scorsese about doing a TV series following the success of his 2019 Netflix movie The Irishman.
A period take was initially developed. Netflix subsequently brought in Koppelman and Levien who had an idea for a present-day casino drama which was put into development, leading to the series greenlight.
While sharing a setting with Scorsese’s 1995 movie Casino, the Netflix series is not related in any way to the film, which is set in 1973 and stars Robert De Niro, Sharon Stone and Joe Pesci. Scorsese also explored casinos/gambling in another period piece, his HBO Boardwalk Empire.
Meanwhile, Koppelman and Levien have previously tackled the arena in contemporary setting with two movies they wrote, Ocean’s Thirteen and Rounders.
This marks a reunion for Scorsese, Koppelman and Levien who briefly worked together on Scorsese’s HBO series Vinyl.
It also marks the first series greenlight for Koppelman and Levien since the end of Billions, which ran on Showtime for seven seasons. In addition to co-creating and executive producing the Paul Giamatti-Damian Lewis drama with Andrew Ross Sorkin, Koppelman and Levien created and executive produced the network’s 2022 limited series Super Pumped. Koppelman also moonlights as an actor, recurring as Nicholas “The Computer” Marshall on FX’s The Bear. The duo, who have multiple other shows in the works, are repped by WME and Jackoway Austen Tyerman. Levien is also with 3 Arts.
After writing and producing on Seasons 5 and 6 of Billions, Schacter became co-showrunner for the seventh and final season. She also co-showran Super Pumped with Koppelman and Levien. She is a consulting producer on Season 4 of Apple’s The Morning Show and executive producer of Peacock’s upcoming Five Star Weekend, based on the novel by Elin Hildebrand. Schacter is co-developing a series about the origin of the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders based on Texas Monthly’s America’s Girls podcast. She is repped by CAA, Brillstein Entertainment Partners, and Johnson Shapiro Slewett & Kole.
Scorsese is repped by WME, LBI Entertainment and Hansen, Jacobson, Teller.