This “House of Cards” won’t fold so easily.
When Golden Globe-winner Kevin Spacey faced a series of sexual assault allegations last year, the future of the hit Netflix series was in jeopardy. Production stopped in October and Netflix cut ties with Spacey and his anything-goes politician Frank Underwood.
But the streaming service announced Wednesday that production had resumed on the series, for what would be an eight-episode final season.
Joining veterans Robin Wright, Michael Kelly and others for the last campaign will be veteran actors Diane Lane (“Unfaithful”) and Greg Kinnear (“Brigsby Bear”). Netflix didn’t specify their roles, but according to The New York Times the pair will play siblings.
Hit TV shows have weathered major cast changes since Harry Morgan’s Col. Sherman T. Potter rode onto “M.A.S.H” in 1975 after McLean Stevenson’s beloved Henry Blake left the show. The 4077th surgeons took a ratings hit that year but viewers returned in droves, eventually making the 1983 series finale the most-watched event in American TV history, a title it kept until 2010.
“House of Cards” is one of the first original series produced by Netflix and has garnered 53 Emmy nominations over the first five seasons. Whether it can survive the loss of Spacey and Underwood remains to be seen, but fans stuck with the show after the insane season 2 premiere in the Washington, D.C. metro, so they will probably watch no matter what.
