After sexual abuse allegations against Kevin Spacey were revealed in October, Netflix suspended the actor’s role from the upcoming season of House of Cards. Production was ground to a halt and the show’s future was unclear.
But now, Netflix chief content officer Ted Sarandos has announced that the political thriller will continue – with Robin Wright, 51, at the forefront of its sixth and final season.
The series usually runs for 13 episodes but will run for eight, with production set to resume in early 2018.
“We were really excited we could get to an agreement” to bring “closure of the show for fans,” said Sarandos at UBS’s Global Media and Communications Conference in New York.
Robin and Kevin on House of Cards.
It’s unknown at this point how the show will deal without the veteran actor, who played Frank Underwood. They could kill the character off, leading the way for his on-screen wife, Claire Underwood (Robin).
On October 29, actor Anthony Rapp accused Spacey, 58, of assaulting him when he was 14 years old. Kevin responded by saying: “I honestly do not remember the encounter” and apologising to Rapp for “what would have been deeply inappropriate drunken behaviour,” before coming out as gay.
Just a few days later, Netflix announced it was severing ties with Spacey’s involvement in House of Cards and pulled the release of the film Gore, which he produced and starred in. Kevin was also replaced with actor Christopher Plummer in the upcoming film All The Money In The World.
