Martin Scorsese and Billions Creators Go All In on Netflix’s High-Stakes Vegas Casino Drama

Martin Scorsese is heading back to Vegas. Not for a Casino redo, and not a nostalgia tour. He is teaming with Billions creators Brian Koppelman and David Levien on a new, currently untitled casino drama at Netflix. With Casino turning 30, the timing is almost too on the nose, but the project itself is very much its own thing.

The setup

Netflix has ordered eight episodes set in present-day Las Vegas. The show centers on Robert 'Bobby Red' Redman, the president of the hottest hotel-casino in town. He is the guy on top who has to take some long-shot swings to hold his spot and grab more territory. Think power, pressure, and the kind of decisions that make or break empires.

How this came together

Netflix has been looking to get Scorsese back on the service ever since The Irishman landed there in 2019 with Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, and Joe Pesci. The seed for this series came from Julie Yorn, Rick Yorn, and Scorsese, and it actually started life as a period piece. Then Netflix brought in Koppelman and Levien, who pitched a contemporary Vegas angle. They merged ideas, found the version that made sense now, and Netflix gave it the green light. If you like the deal-sheet details, this is one of those 'multiple cooks, one recipe' situations that ended up in the modern day by design.

Who is making it

• Brian Koppelman and David Levien - showrunners and executive producers
• Martin Scorsese and Sikelia Productions - executive producers
• Paul Schiff (The Inheritance) via Best Available - executive producer
• Julie Yorn and Rick Yorn for Expanded Media - executive producers
• Beth Schacter (former Billions writer-producer) - executive producer
• Kerry Orent (The Better Sister) - co-executive producer

What it is not

This is not a continuation of Scorsese's 1995 Casino. That film followed two friends - a casino boss and a mob enforcer - clawing at the same gambling empire while a hard-partying socialite complicated everything. The new series is set now, with a different character and a different power game.

What I am wondering

Do we get Scorsese regulars popping in, or does a current-day Vegas story push them toward fresh faces? Billions is all about leverage, ego, and chess moves - which sounds tailor-made for the casino world - so the vibe fits. The question is how gritty and propulsive they take it over eight episodes, and how much Scorsese puts his fingerprints on the style versus letting Koppelman and Levien run the table.

Either way, Scorsese back on the floor, Koppelman and Levien in the booth, present-day Vegas as the arena - that is a bet I am happy to watch play out.