Production for the House of Cards season 3 is set to be delayed to June due to bills involving TV production tax breaks in Maryland.
The hit political drama series is filmed in the state of Maryland, but due to tax credit debates, the show's producers may move production elsewhere.
The Wall Street Journal states that unless Maryland offers $15 million in tax credits for the production of House of Cards season 3, series production company Media Rights Capital may leave the state. The show reportedly received $15 million in tax credit for season 2, and $11 million for season 1.
However, Maryland's current cap is at $7.4 million and the two bills are currently being debated by a committee to raise the ceiling to $11 million or $18.5 million.
Senior Vice President Charlie Goldstein of Media Rights Capital wrote in a letter to several politicians: "In the meantime I wanted you to be aware that we are required to look at other states in which to film on the off chance that the legislation does not pass, or does not cover the amount of tax credits for which we would qualify. I am sure you can understand that we would not be responsible financiers and a successful production company if we did not have viable options available.
"We wanted you to be aware that while we had planned to begin filming in early spring, we have decided to push back the start date for filming until June to ensure there has been a positive outcome of the legislation. In the event sufficient incentives do not become available, we will have to break down our stage, sets and offices and set up in another state."
Filming the House of Cards in Maryland has had its economical impact in the state. The show reportedly created almost 6,000 jobs and brought in nearly $250 million to the state economy.
The House of Cards season 2 only launched on Feb. 14, 2014 with millions of fans already having breezed through all 13 new episodes.
The creative team behind House of Cards is currently hard at work writing the script for its third series.
Producer Beau Willimon recently posted a snap of the team of writers behind the hit drama with the caption "Howdy from the @HouseofCards writers room! We're hard at work on Seas 3 for y'all. 800 pages to go! @netflix."
The third series is expected to release around February 2015, with consecutive series to follow within the same timeframe, if producers follow its recent launch schedules for seasons 1 and 2. However, due to the recent filming conflict in Maryland, it is not known whether the House of Cards release date would be affected.
As stated in Goldstein's letter, filming was originally scheduled for this spring but has been pushed back to June.
