Despite the controversy surrounding "House of Cards" star Kevin Spacey, the show is pushing through production for its very last season. Only this time, Robin Wright will be taking the reins from Spacey as the show's lead.
According to The Guardian, the sixth and final season of the Netflix series will continue production in 2018 without Spacey. The actor was already filming episodes for the upcoming season, but the streaming service cut ties with Spacey following sexual harassment allegations.
Netflix chief content officer Ted Sarandos announced during a press conference on Monday that the remaining episodes will now shift its focus to Wright.
Sarandos shared that they are excited to bring some closure to the fans of the show. He went on to say that the 2,000 people who work on the show will be able to come back to work next year.
Compared to the previous seasons of "House of Cards," the sixth season will be shorter, with only eight episodes instead of 13. Details of the sixth season's plot have yet to be revealed, but it can be assumed that it will focus on Wright's character Claire Underwood's actions as the new president.
With the shift in lead characters, the show's executive producer Michael Dobbs revealed that the scripts for the remaining episodes were undergoing a big overhaul. The writers are reportedly doing a lot of rewriting, which is serving as a challenge.
As to why the producers and Netflix have decided to push through with the show despite Spacey's sexual harassment scandal, Dobbs revealed that it is important that the series continues.
"It's art imitating real life: you know that women will triumph over desperately flawed men," said Dobbs.
Spacey was fired from the show after accusations of sexual misconduct on and off the set surfaced to the public. Netflix also decided to shut down a film that would star Spacey as Gore Vidal.
Meanwhile, Christopher Plummer took his place in Ridley Scott's film "All the Money in the World" which resulted in last-minute reshoots just before the film's release on Dec. 22.
Spacey is one of the many names in Hollywood being accused of sexual harassment.
