House of Cards final season will be Netflix show's shortest in its history

Robin Wright will lead the series when the political drama returns to screens

(Netflix)

The final season of House of Cards will be the Netflix drama's shortest in its six-year history.

Robin Wright will lead the series when the political drama returns to screens without Kevin Spacey who was fired by bosses following the sexual misconduct allegations made against him in October 2017.

The series' fate was left in the balance after production was halted, however, it was later revealed the show would return for a final stand to reach its natural conclusion - and it has just eight episodes to do it in.

This means House of Cards season 6 has almost been slashed in half considering the previous five seasons have each boasted a total of 13 episodes.

It was revealed yesterday that Greg Kinnear and Diane Lane had been hired to appear in the show's final run which is expected to air on Netflix later this year.

The two cast additions will join Wright, Michael Kelly, Jayne Atkinson, Patricia Clarkson, Constance Zimmer, Derek Cecil, Campbell Scott and Boris McGiver in the upcoming season.

Earlier this week, former star Joel Kinnaman - who leads new Netflix series Altered Carbon - admitted that the allegations against his former co-star Spacey were "not a shock" in a Swedish chatshow interview.

You can find a list of every film and TV show joining Netflix this month here.

Follow Independent Culture on Facebook