'Billions' Season 5 Finale: Ex-US Solicitor General Neal Katyal's cameo wows fans

Fifty-one-year-old Neal Katyal is known for arguing the most cases in Supreme Court than any other minority lawyer in the history of America
UPDATED OCT 4, 2021
Neal Katyal, former Acting Solicitor General of the United States appeared in a cameo role in 'Billions' (Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty Images)
Neal Katyal, former Acting Solicitor General of the United States appeared in a cameo role in 'Billions' (Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty Images)

Spoilers for 'Billions' Season 5 Episode 12 'No Direction Home'

'Billions' is known for bringing in some key icons to light up the series and the finale had one guest star paired with David Costabile's Michael Wagner. Neal Katyal, the Former Principal Deputy Solicitor General of the United States had a cameo role in the series and that had Twitter in awe and in splits.

The twelfth episode of the Showtime hit drama sees Bobby Axelrod (Damian Lewis) finally lose to Mike Prince (Corey Stoll), who helps him make a clean getaway and evade arrest for the Cannabis-bank deal. The episode sees Chuck Rhoades attempt to outpower both Prince and Axe but fails in his attempt after the latter moves to Switzerland. As far as Katyal's appearance goes, he is introduced as Wags' lawyer in one of the scenes where Chuck asks him to rat out on Axe and the fixer flat out refuses.

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While there are not many lines for Katyal, the mere presence had the fans talking about it. "#Billions Hey, what a nice surprise to see you on the show @neal_katyal! As the "Greatest Atty in the World" according to your new client, Wags!" one of the tweets read. "No way ! @neal_katyal!! way to go Wags! #Billions" another fan wrote.

"Wags has the best attorney in the country, whose meter is running, so Wags should be OK, right? Or.... Yup, that's @neal_katyal on #Billions season 5 finale right now @SHO_Billions #TeamAxe". It was Wags' line that had the audience laughing. "Wags: Respectfully, you're the best lawyer in the world Neal, but zip it. #Billions, a fan wrote the lines.



 



 



 



 

Who is Neal Katyal?

Katyal was the former Acting Solicitor General of the United States and served during Barrack Obama's presidency. He currently is a partner of Chamath Palihapitiya Social+capital Partnership and a member of the board of Social Capital Ventures Inc. The 51-year-old is known for arguing the most cases in Supreme Court than any other minority lawyer in the history of America, as per an ABA report.

Neal Katyal testifies during a hearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee (Getty Images)

He made headlines when he was commissioned by former POTUS Bill Clinton for pro bono work. During his time at the Justice Department, Katyal made waves for his successful defense of the constitutionality of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 in Northwest Austin v. Holder. Neal has also served as a law professor for over two decades at Georgetown University Law Center, where he was one of the youngest professors to have received tenure and a chaired professorship in the university's history. He has also served as a visiting professor at both Harvard and Yale law schools

According to Law.com, Katyal is also the only head of the Solicitor General's office to argue in the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. He succeeded Elena Kagan who Obama chose to replace during his tenure. 'Billions' wasn't Katyal's first TV gig. He had a cameo appearance in season 3 of the American television series 'House of Cards', acting as defense counsel during a Supreme Court argument.

'Billions' will return with Season 6 on Showtime. 

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