Halt on ‘House of Cards’ production extended by two weeks

Team Udayavani, Nov 27, 2017, 4:30 PM IST

Los Angeles: The halt on the production of the final season of the popular political drama “House of Cards” has been extended by another two weeks.

Netflix had suspended production on the show earlier this month in the wake of allegations of misconduct against its lead Kevin Spacey. It had also said that the show will end after the upcoming sixth season.

In a letter to the cast and crew, the producers of the show, Media Rights Capital, said the “crew will be paid for an additional two-week hiatus beginning on November 27th and continuing through December 8th”, reported Deadline.

The letter has been signed by Pauline Micelli, Media Rights Capital senior vice president of the television business and legal affairs. “These last two months have tested and tried all of us in ways none of us could have foreseen,” said Micelli.

“The one thing we have learned throughout this process is that this production is bigger than just one person and we could not be more proud to be associated with one of the most loyal and talented production cast and crews in this business,” he added.

Kevin Spacey has been accused by “Star Trek: Discovery” actor Anthony Rapp of making an unwanted sexual advance towards him when he was 14-years-old. After the allegations surfaced, Netflix and Media Rights Capital had issued a joint statement, saying they were “deeply troubled”. They added that Spacey was “not working on set at this time.”

Following Rapp’s statement, the “House of Cards” star issued an apology and also came out as a gay man, saying he does not remember the incident and that it “would have been deeply inappropriate drunken behaviour”. Spacey, however, earned flak on social media for revealing his sexual orientation amid the claims of abuse. Others have come forward with similar claims against the actor after Rapp’s allegations.