In the wake of sexual allegations against actor Kevin Spacey, Netflix has announced it has suspended production of House of Cards‘ sixth season Tuesday, the day after the company said it would be ending the popular political drama series in 2018. The show’s quick halt comes days after a Buzzfeed article published Sunday outlined claims that a drunken Spacey tried to seduce then-child actor Anthony Rapp in 1986.
In a joint statement, Netflix and Media Rights Capital, House of Cards production company, announced that the show’s production would be halted until further notice, “to give us time to review the current situation and to address any concerns of our cast and crew.” Work on the sixth—and now seemingly final—season of the show had begun earlier this month, reports The Baltimore Sun.
House of Cards premiered in 2013 and largely jumpstarted the trend of streaming television programming, turning outsiders like Netflix and Amazon into a new kind of Hollywood heavyweight. The political drama’s first season garnered nine Emmy nominations, and Spacey won the Golden Globe Award for Best Drama Actor for his portrayal of President Frank Underwood in 2015.
In response to the report of making unwanted sexual advances on a minor, Spacey apologized for his “deeply inappropriate drunken behavior” and said he was “beyond horrified” in a posting to his Twitter account. However, many in the entertainment industry said the apology—and Spacey’s subsequent coming out as a gay man—was not enough.
