Anthony Rapp’s allegation that Kevin Spacey sexually harassed him when Rapp was 14, and Spacey’s subsequent sorta-confession / kinda-apology / clumsy coming-out, have affected the older actor’s Netflix drama House of Cards in… no way whatsoever, despite what you might’ve read in some of our lazier publications.
Yes, Deadline, ABC News, TVLine, and Variety (Variety, for God’s sake!) have all erroneously reported that the series was “cancelled” as a result of Spacey’s scandal. The truth, as noted by THR and few others, is that the series is currently in production for its sixth season – which will be its last, a decision that has “been in the works since the summer” and was precipitated neither by Rapp’s allegations or Spacey’s fumbled apology. Netflix did issue a statement yesterday, noting that “Media Rights Capital and Netflix are deeply troubled by last night’s news concerning Kevin Spacey,” and that “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.”
The show’s creator and original showrunner, Beau Willimon, echoed those sentiments, while carefully adding, “During the time I worked with Kevin Spacey on House of Cards, I neither witnessed nor was aware of any inappropriate behavior on set or off.” That doesn’t quite jibe with earlier whispers of Spacey’s “aggressive advances” towards male crew members on the set.
What’s unclear is how much of the new season is shot, and whether the storm brewing around Spacey will affect his participation in the rest of it. (His Frank Underwood is front and center on the series, but if its writers were planning on ending it with some sort of splashy exit for the character, they might reconsider that timing.) And as Variety reports, the show’s producers are working with Netflix on a possible spin-off, which take place “in the same universe as House of Cards.” You know, that one where the president is a lying, scheming, deeply immoral scumbag. Yay, fantasy!
UPDATE 2:30pm: Uh, never mind.