Netflix announced late Friday that they would no longer work on any projects involving Kevin Spacey, putting the in-production final season of House of Cards in jeopardy.
Netflix will not be involved with any further production of House of Cards that includes Kevin Spacey, a Netflix spokesperson said in a statement (via Variety). We will continue to work with [production company] MRC during this hiatus time to evaluate our path forward as it relates to the show. We have also decided we will not be moving forward with the release of the film Gore, which was in post-production, starring and produced by Kevin Spacey.
Netflixs announcement comes after CNN reported Thursday that at least eight House of Cards employees accused Spacey of making the work environment toxic with his predatory behavior toward male staffers.
We are deeply troubled to learn about these new allegations that are being made to the press concerning Kevin Spaceys interaction with members of the crew of House of Cards, MRC said in a statement Thursday after CNNs report. As the producer of the show, creating and maintaining a safe working environment for our cast and crew has always been our top priority. We have consistently reinforced the importance of employees reporting any incident without fear of retaliation and we have investigated and taken appropriate actions following any complaints.
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Earlier Friday, the Hollywood trades reported that House of Cards, which announced its final season following the initial Spacey accusations, would likely shut down in order to rewrite the series sixth and final series without Spaceys Frank Underwood; the original British version of House of Cards similarly killed off its main character.
Actress Jessica Chastain is among those lobbying for House of Cards to continue on with Robin Wrights Claire Underwood in the lead role. Netflix and MRC would not confirm that the series would go in that direction. The Hollywood Reporter added that two episodes of Season Six have already been filmed, and that the show will shut down for at least two weeks while writers attempt to rework the final season.
However, Netflix completely severing ties with Spacey could still complicate the future of House of Cards since the actor is also a producer on House of Cards.
In addition to House of Cards, Netflix also announced they are canceling Spaceys Gore, a biopic about Gore Vidal that would have been an exclusive for the streaming service.