Delayed House of Cards plans to continue making series without Kevin Spacey

House of Cards will continue to make its final season without Kevin Spacey, according to a memo sent out to staff.

However, the production has been delayed once more, with crew-members told that they will not be needed until at least December 8.

Deadline obtained the letter, sent from producer Pauline Micelli, the head of TV Business of Media Rights Capital, which makes the show for Netflix.

But Micelli advised that if crew members have other work in the meantime, they should pursue it.

It also explains that the hit series is ‘bigger than just one person’, which would seem to suggest that the writers of the show have found a way to write out Kevin Spacey, the show’s lead.

Production of the show, which is filmed in Baltimore, was halted following allegations of sexual harassment made against Spacey, who plays machiavellian politician Frank Underwood in the show.

It then emerged that several crew-members on the show had also been subject to unwanted advances from Spacey, one calling the show’s set ‘a toxic environment for young men’, because of Spacey’s alleged behaviour.

Here’s the letter in full:

“ Dear Cast and Crew,

As we move into the holidays, we want to express our appreciation for all of the meaningful messages of support we have received from you and want to update all of our loyal cast and crew on our progress and where things currently stand.

We continue to work with Netflix with the hope of resuming production soon. As we continue these discussions, we have determined together that the crew will be paid for an additional two week hiatus – beginning on November 27th and continuing through December 8th.

In addition to the writers, there will be a small contingency of office/accounting staff who will remain in the production office on a continuous basis. Our hope is that the entire crew will be able to reconvene when production resumes, but we want you to know that we will certainly understand if crew members need to find other work in the interim, which will prevent them from re-joining us. We sincerely appreciate all you have done.

Cast and other union members who are not actively working will be paid in accordance with applicable union guidelines through this period and we will be reaching out directly to your representatives to work through the details; we will get to everyone as quickly as possible and appreciate all of your patience here.

These last two months have tested and tried all of us in ways none of us could have foreseen. 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.

We will provide an additional update by 12/8/17.

Thank you all.

Pauline Micelli.”

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