Bringing an end to what has been a shocking and deeply troubling week, we’re learning that Netflix’s House of Cards may be killing off Kevin Spacey’s character, Frank Underwood.
The scandal surrounding the actor continues to grow by the day, and just last night, we learned that Spacey was investigated for an incident that allegedly occurred during season 1 of the show, which was seemingly “resolved swiftly” between Netflix and Media Rights Capital, the studio that helps produce the ongoing political drama. Still, the allegations continue to mount and now, it seems the only way to deal with all this is by removing the actor from the series.
According to Variety, Netflix is toying with the idea of having season 6 focus on Robin Wright’s Claire, as they’re worried that due to the scandal currently swirling around Spacey, it’ll be impossible to have him on set – especially after those allegations by various crew members, who told some disturbing stories of the actor’s behavior while filming House of Cards.
With production on season 6 having only just fired up, it wouldn’t be difficult to kill off Frank Underwood and have Claire step into the spotlight, though how exactly they’d do this is unknown. Perhaps an assassination attempt, or maybe a freak accident? It’s hard to say, and while this hasn’t been confirmed just yet, killing off Spacey’s character really does seem like the only way to move forward with the critically acclaimed show at this point.
Right now, the biggest hurdle would be the legal issues, as Netflix is unsure of whether or not they can actually continue to make House of Cards without him, as his contract may state that every episode has to feature him. So, it would seem that there’s still a lot to work out before they can settle on this route. However they choose to handle things, though, it doesn’t sound like we should expect to see Frank Underwood when season 6 premieres.
The scandal that has engulfed Kevin Spacey – and, by effect, House of Cards – will continue to fester for some time, of course, and until those guilty are brought to justice, we can only hope this torrent of allegations helps expose other sexual predators working within the industry.
Spacey, meanwhile, is now seeking “evaluation and treatment,” though should these claims hold true, we imagine there’s no coming back from this.