Robin Wright: ‘House of Cards’ Was ‘Very Close’ to Getting Axed: ‘I Believed We Should Finish’

“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,'” says actress

Greg Kinnear, Diane Lane and Robin Wright on 'House of Cards'
Netflix

Netflix will put a bow on “House of Cards” when it premieres the sixth and final season in November, but it nearly didn’t happen in the wake of sexual assault accusations against its star Kevin Spacey, according to Robin Wright.

During an interview with Net-A-Porter‘s PorterEdit, Wright said that the political drama was “very, very close” to getting canceled by Netflix. “Because of the climate at that time. 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.’”

Spacey was fired from the Netflix series and written out of the show’s upcoming final season.

Eight employees filed sexual harassment claims with Netflix and “House of Cards” production company MRC last November, CNN reported at the time. One unnamed production assistant said he was assaulted after being assigned to drive Spacey to and from the set, and later told the outlet he was “cornered” by the actor in his trailer. In addition to misconduct on the show, Spacey was accused of making advances on Anthony Rapp, a Broadway and film actor, when the latter was underage.

The final season of “House of Cards,” which premieres Nov. 2, will center on Wright’s Claire Underwood. Wright fought with Netflix executives for the show to be able to get a chance to end on its own terms. “I believed we should finish. I believed we should honor our commitment.”

She added that were the show to have been abruptly canceled, it would’ve been unfair to everyone else who worked on the show. “If you include security, cops, shooting on location in Baltimore, everything, 2,500 people would have been out of a job,” she said. “And that’s not fair – to take that security away from those people… They didn’t do anything [wrong].”

“House of Cards” was put on indefinite hiatus in November after the personal implosion of Spacey. Wright said the mood on set during this time was one of “shock and fear” and that as an executive producer she felt a certain amount of responsibility. “A good, hardworking team. [People with] kids in college, kids to feed, houses to pay for. C’mon!”

For the final season of “House of Cards,” Greg Kinnear Diane Lane and Cody Fern were added to the cast, joining Michael Kelly, Jayne Atkinson, Patricia Clarkson, Derek Cecil, Campbell Scott, Boris McGiver and Constance Zimmer.

Wright spoke a bit on how they went about ending the show: “It’s pretty wild. I mean, we’re doing an opera. And we went operatic! I don’t know how much more we could have topped ourselves. You’ll be surprised.”

Read the full interview with Net-A-Porter here.

The final season of “House of Cards” drops Nov. 2 on Netflix

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