Kevin Spacey Heads to Court in House of Cards Legal Showdown

Kevin Spacey will take the stand to testify that illness sidelined him from the final season of House of Cards.

Here is a twist I did not have on my 2017 bingo card: the company behind House of Cards is teaming up with Kevin Spacey to argue that he was too sick to finish the show — and if a jury buys it, their insurer could be on the hook for a giant check.

How we got here

Kevin Spacey led House of Cards as Frank Underwood for five seasons. When allegations of sexual assault surfaced — first from Anthony Rapp, then from others — the show pressed pause. Media Rights Capital (the production company) had already filmed a couple of episodes of the final season with Spacey. Then came emergency rewrites and reshoots with Robin Wright stepping up as the lead, and a lot of money lit on fire in the process.

MRC took Spacey to arbitration in 2019, arguing he violated anti-harassment policies in his contract. The judge ruled Spacey owed nearly $31 million in production costs. That alone could have been the end of it.

The new plan: blame sickness, not conduct

Instead, MRC and Spacey cut a deal. Spacey would pay $1 million — and help MRC chase a far bigger target: its insurer on House of Cards, Fireman's Fund Insurance Co. The new argument says Spacey didn't do season 6 because he was sick, specifically battling sex addiction, and that the show's losses were covered by the policy if they were incurred "solely" due to that sickness.

Yes, that is a hard pivot. And yes, it puts Spacey on MRC's side this time.

What the insurer says

Fireman's Fund calls that framing ridiculous. Their take: MRC cut ties to distance the show from Spacey's alleged misconduct and the fallout, which is not something an insurance policy covers. A jury now has to sort out which version tracks.

Why this round matters

This is MRC's third attempt to get the insurer to reimburse those House of Cards losses, and the judge overseeing the case warned this is "the last" shot. If MRC wins, Fireman's Fund could be on the hook for upward of $100 million.

The x-factor is Spacey himself. He has agreed to hand over medical records and submit a court declaration stating he might have taken his own life if he had been required to return for the final season.

Spacey is expected to testify that his condition required continued treatment and that he was not able to work at the time — he checked into an Arizona rehab facility on November 2, 2017, almost immediately after the allegations started to surface — even if he may have said otherwise back then.

As MRC will tell it: he was too sick to work, and that's covered. As the insurer will tell it: he was fired because of reputational damage, and that's not.

The Netflix complication

There's a thorny data point here: around the same time, Netflix canceled multiple Spacey projects, including a completed film, Gore, a biopic about Gore Vidal. A jury could reasonably ask why a finished movie got pulled if not to avoid bad publicity — his sex addiction didn't stop him from finishing that one. On the other hand, Gore and House of Cards are different productions with different calculations, so the comparison only goes so far.

The road ahead

It all goes to a jury. If MRC persuades them that sickness — and sickness alone — drove the season 6 overhaul, the insurer pays. If not, MRC eats the loss.

Meanwhile, Spacey is due back in court in October to face a new wave of sexual assault allegations.

Quick timeline

• Pre-2017: Spacey headlines House of Cards for five seasons.
• 2017: Allegations surface; MRC had filmed a couple of season 6 episodes with Spacey; he checks into Arizona rehab on November 2.
• 2018: Season 6 proceeds with Robin Wright leading; MRC absorbs major rewrite/reshoot costs.
• 2019: Arbitration ruling says Spacey owes nearly $31 million to MRC.
• Later: MRC and Spacey strike a deal — he pays $1 million and helps MRC go after Fireman's Fund.
• Now: Third and final attempt to make the insurer pay; potential exposure north of $100 million; jury trial ahead.

One more quote worth flagging from Spacey's declaration: "I may have taken my own life if I had to come back" to finish the show. Grim, and central to the argument MRC is betting on.