Robin Wright Reveals House of Cards Was ‘Very, Very Close’ to Cancellation After Kevin Spacey Scandal
House of Cards will get a proper conclusion when its final season drops this fall — but the Netflix series came thisclose to getting vetoed all together.
In an interview with Net-a-Porter, series star Robin Wright addressed the drama’s imminent end, revealing that Season 6 was far from a sure thing in the wake of Kevin Spacey‘s firing for alleged sexual misconduct.
“[The show was] very, very close” to getting cancelled “because of the climate at the time,” Wright shared. “The air was thick, you know. Harvey Weinstein… People were [saying], ‘We have to shut everything down or otherwise it will look like we are glorifying and honoring this thing that’s dirty.'”
Wright said she personally met with Netflix executives when the series’ future began to look grim, because she “believed we should finish. I believed we should honor our commitment. To the people that loved the show, also. Why quit?”
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Wright went on to say that she felt she owed it to the thousands of House of Cards staffers that worked on the show, who would have unceremoniously lost their jobs if the show had been cancelled after Season 5: “They printed that it was ‘only’ 600 people out of work, but if you include security, cops, shooting on location in Baltimore, everything, 2,500 people would have been out of a job. And that’s not fair — to take that security away from those people.”
In a previous interview with Today, Wright said her relationship with Spacey was strictly professional, revealing that they “never socialized outside of work” and only “knew each other between ‘action’ and cut.'”
When asked by Net-a-Porter for her thoughts on the Spacey imbroglio at large, she said, “I believe every human being has the ability to reform…. In that sense, second chances, or whatever you are going to call it – absolutely, I believe in that. It’s called growth.”
House of Cards‘ sixth and final season drops on Netflix Friday, Nov. 2. What do you make of Wright’s interview?
The action and cut comment has always bothered me. Didn’t they have to do promo rounds and events together? I get what she is trying to say but I think she’s trying to oversimply their relationship to distance herself.
i’m not sure that’s a bad thing for her to do. I mean Spacey is ACCUSED of something that he neither brags about nor denies, right? In this climate you can be ostracized for society if you admit that one time you met Spacey as a fan & asked him if you were talking to Keyzer Soze or Verbal Kint FFS! I’m NOT defending any of his supposed actions BUT Lee Harvey Oswald got better treatment & a chance @ blind justice(before Ruby shot him) in this climate
I’m sure if Lee Harvey Oswald was the start of a TV show he probably would have been fired just as quickly.
I have worked with people I was never friends with or even hated. It’s not on her the crimes she commited. My ex-boss conned a lot of people, including myself. The fact we worked together doesn’t make me his accomplice. It is not her fault someone she worked with committed crimes.
I’m not saying she is an accomplice. But she was around him more than the comment lends itself to. She’s distancing herself, which is the smart thing to do, and without her the show would have been cancelled. I have a lot of respect for her, this comment just minimizes the interactions they had, in my opinion. Even if they weren’t friends or even friendly, they still would have been together more than just between action and cut on set.
Reveals? Wasn’t that a known thing?
The show was headed to Claire being president anyways. It just makes sense to have one last season with Claire as POTUS
There should’ve never been a scandal in the first place.
I was on HOC with Robin and Kevin multiple times and they along with the rest of the cast and crew were professional at all times. It was a pleasure to be a small part of this great show from season 4-6.
I agree with Robin Wright; We ALL felt like Netflix was going to throw away their first major original scripted series in a heartbeat all because of this scandal so that it would not get the proper conclusion that it deserved.