House Of Cards show-runner Beau Willimon to not return for new season

Beau Willimon and David Fincher, the dream team that launched House of Cards on Netflix with Kevin Spacey and Robin Wright in lead roles, is finally saying goodbye to the show. Though Fincher is still attached as producer, Beau Willimon, the show-runner for the hit Netflix series, will not return for the upcoming fifth season of the show.

His departure from the show is amicable as is obvious from his statement. “After five years and four seasons, it’s time for me to move on to new endeavors,” Willimon stated. “But I’m supremely proud of what we’ve built together.”

It does, however, lead one to question where the show will go from here. Netflix has renewed the show but speculation suggests that Kevin Spacey’s Frank Underwood could get killed off as the show paves way for his other, equally terrifying half, Claire Underwood to take over the American presidency. This also ties in with the rumours that a spin-off without Spacey could be underway. The thought was echoed by Michael Dobbs, who wrote the original novels used as source for the series, and is also an executive producer to the show. Addressing the question whether the show can go on with without Spacey, Dobbs noted, “That is a very interesting question and one that we are putting our minds to actively because every show comes to a natural end.”

Having been around for years, the show is a brand, one that could go on to embrace the ideology of other shows like Breaking Bad and 24 that have returned with a prequel and a re-boot, respectively. “It is a global brand, so the question arises: what do we do with a global brand?”said Dobbs. What this means for Netflix series, only time and the audience will tell.

- Originally published in The News on Sunday