House of Cards
will be returning for a final season, Netflix has confirmed — but without the help of Kevin Spacey. The streaming service said Monday afternoon that the final season will start filming in 2018, and Spacey will not be a part of it.
The final season will have eight episodes, Netflix told a UBS media conference (as reported by Reuters). The sixth season was originally expected to air sometime in summer 2018, but given that production has already been delayed and that significant rewrites will be needed, late 2018 or early 2019 would be a much better guess at this point.
Actor Anthony Rapp recently made public accusations of sexual abuse against Kevin Spacey, who plays the lead role of Frank Underwood in Netflix’s hit original series. Spacey half-apologized for his actions in a statement issued after Rapp’s allegations, while not going quite far enough to admit guilt.
Following Rapp’s initial allegations, more accounts emerged of sexual harrassment by Spacey on previous shoots and during the filming of House of Cards. CNN reported that eight crew members from House of Cards said that Spacey was “predatory” during shoots, and one production assistant said that Spacey assaulted him during the shooting of an early season.
Netflix was quick to drop Spacey when the allegations first surfaced, and it said that it would not be a part of any House of Cards that involved Spacey going forwards.
