2018 could be known as the year, television tried to purge itself of its demons. This year, you had Roseanne Barr kicked to the curb from “Roseanne” for racists comments, Jeffrey Tambor fired from Amazon’s “Transparent” for bad behavior and sexual harassment and finally, Kevin Spacey impeached from Netflix’s “House Of Cards” for allegations of sexual harassment, abuse and rape.
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All these show, minus Roseanne which may never come back, face the same dilemma: trying to persist without their lead character. And as something like “Star Wars: Episode IX” will surely learn, moving on without a major character and pretending they died off screen is a significant narrative challenge.
This is presumably what “House Of Cards” must confront. With Spacey fired last year, the actor, trying to preserve what was left of his crumbling career, offered to appear on the Netflix show to give his character a proper send off. Its producers and Netflix refused and instead chose to wrap up the entire series with one last season, one where Claire Underwood, the first lady and Vice President (played by Robin Wright), would lead the show and take over as President.
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How is that supposed to work? Frank Underwood (Spacey), who was shot in season three, and appeared to be overworked and ill in season five, dying? Perhaps of a sudden heart attack? That would make the most sense, but it’s always difficult for any story to properly transition leads when one has mysteriously disappeared all of a sudden without closure. Like him or not, and you were meant to love to hate him, Frank Underwood was the star of “House Of Cards.” Fortunately, the show has positioned Claire as his equal in the last few seasons, so maybe it won’t be as difficult as it seems on its face.
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“House Of Cards” has been shot and is expected to hit Netflix in the run up to the 2018 midterm elections, but no specific date has been given yet beyond Fall 2018. Its sixth and final season co-stars Michael Kelly, Patricia Clarkson, Jayne Atkinson, Campbell Scott, Derek Cecil, Constance Zimmer, Boris McGiver and several newcomers to the cast including Diane Lane, Greg Kinnear and Cody Fern (longtime fans should raise an eyebrow at the return of Zimmer and her storyline). The final season of “House Of Cards” premieres November 2, 2018 on Netflix. Watch the new trailer below.