House Of Cards, Netflix’s groundbreaking first original series, will forge ahead with a sixth and final season headlined by Robin Wright, after Kevin Spacey was axed from the series following accusations of sexual assault by the actor Anthony Rapp. Rapp said that Spacey made sexual advances on him when he was 14, and several other allegations against Spacey followed.
Netflix previously said that the upcoming season of House Of Cards — which was in development when the allegations against Spacey came to light — would be its last, and that it would not be involved with any version of the show involving Spacey. Previous reports also claimed that writers were looking to kill Spacey’s character — a diabolical politician named Frank Underwood — off the show. Today, however, Netflix’s chief content officer, Ted Sarandos, confirmed that the show would resume shooting early next year, and that Spacey would not appear in any future episodes. The eight-episode season will instead focus on Wright’s character — Underwood’s equally cunning wife, Claire.
“We were really excited we could get to an agreement” with production company Media Rights Capital to give “closure to fans,” Sarandos said at a media conference on Monday, per Variety. House of Cards employs roughly 2,000 total people in Baltimore, and cast and crew members will continue to be paid during the show’s hiatus.
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At UBS’s 45th annual Global Media And Communications Conference, Sarandos shared other Netflix news — including plans to expand the streaming giant’s animated feature film arsenal to four or five releases per year. Netflix also has 60 children’s series currently in production, 30 Japanese anime originals in the works, and intends to offer 30 international scripted series next year.
