“House of Cards” lives on — just without Frank Underwood.
Netflix Chief Content Officer Ted Sarandos announced the landmark original series is going into production on its final season next year, but Kevin Spacey will not be part of the show, after reports of sexual misconduct from the star.
“I can actually give you some news in the room today, because we have been in arrangement to produce a sixth season of ‘House of Cards.” It’ll be an eight episode season that’ll start production early ’18, and it will not involve Kevin Spacey,” said Sarandos at the UBS Global Media and Communications Conference in New York. “It will star Robin Wright. And we’re really excited about bringing some closure to the show for fans.”
Production on the sixth and final season of the political drama had been suspended “indefinitely” in the wake of sexual misconduct accusations involving Spacey, including by crew members who alleged that the actor’s inappropriate advances and contact created a “toxic” work environment.
In late October, actor Anthony Rapp said Spacey “tried to seduce” him as a 14-year-old boy in 1986; more than a dozen men stepped forward after Rapp and accused Spacey of misconduct. Netflix dropped Spacey’s upcoming film “Gore,” on famous writer Gore Vidal, in the wake of the accusations.
“House of Cards” was Netflix’s first original series when it debuted in 2013, with the political drama setting its course on hundreds of original shows in the years to follow.