'House Of Cards' Season 6 Has Just Extended Its Hiatus

In light of the recent allegations against actor Kevin Spacey, the production company halted production of the series to conduct an investigation. TVLine reported that House of Cards Season 6 is reportedly extending its hiatus amidst investigation, and will aim to proceed without Spacey. The actor plays politician Frank Underwood in the popular Netflix drama. According to a memo obtained by TVLine, the executives of production company Media Rights Capital are planning to resume filming the final episodes on Dec. 8.

The statement read:

We continue to work with Netflix with the hope of resuming production soon. As we continue these discussions, we have determined together that the crew will be paid for an additional two week hiatus – beginning on November 27th and continuing through December 8th.

In addition to the writers, there will be a small contingency of office and accounting staff who will remain in the production office on a continuous basis. Our hope is that the entire crew will be able to reconvene when production resumes, but we want you to know that we will certainly understand if crew members need to find other work in the interim, which will prevent them from re-joining us. We sincerely appreciate all you have done.

Many cast and crew members of the series had been in limbo while the fate of the show's final season was determined. The hiatus, which has stopped production on set, will continue until early December. According to the memo, in the interim, only necessary production office staff and writers will work for the show on a continuous basis.

It's been over two weeks since Netflix and Media Rights Capital shut down operations on House of Cards. The series was already in production on its sixth, and now final, season when the several sexual harassment allegations against Spacey came to light. In late October, the actor Anthony Rapp told Buzzfeed News that Kevin Spacey allegedly made a sexual advance toward him in 1986. Rapp would have been 14, and Spacey 26. On Oct. 29, Spacey posted a statement on Twitter in response, claiming he did not remember the incident. His statement also included an apology. Many other allegations against the actor surfaced and, a week later, CNN published a report in which eight House of Cards employees alleged sexual misconduct against Spacey on the set of the Netflix series.

On Oct. 30, Media Rights Capital and Netflix announced in a joint statement that time would be taken to review the situation and address the concerns of the cast and crew. According to Variety, the initial statement read:

Media Rights Capital and Netflix are deeply troubled by last night’s news concerning Kevin Spacey. In response to last night’s revelations, executives from both of our companies arrived in Baltimore this afternoon to meet with our cast and crew to ensure that they continue to feel safe and supported. As previously scheduled, Kevin Spacey is not working on set at this time.

On Nov. 4, Netflix announced that they would not be involved in House of Cards if the show continued to star Spacey. A Netflix spokesperson released the following statement to Bustle:

"Netflix will not be involved with any further production of 'House of Cards' that includes Kevin Spacey. We will continue to work with MRC [Media Rights Capital] 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 postproduction, starring and produced by Kevin Spacey."

If House of Cards is to proceed with Season 6, the writers will likely write out Spacey's character Frank Underwood. Only two episodes had reportedly been filmed at the time production was suspended and it's unclear at this time how the character will be written out of the series.

For those waiting to resume work on House of Cards, or fans of the Netflix series, the fate of the show is still undetermined. However, the extension of the show's hiatus and filming schedule suggests that production will resume once an appropriate plan for moving forward without Spacey has been determined.