Netflix announced on Monday that its popular series House of Cards will premiere on its streaming service on Feb. 27, 2015.
The announcement, which was made over social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter, had a 12-second video featuring President Francis J. Underwood, played by Kevin Spacey, walking up to board a plane alongside First Lady Claire Underwood, played by Robin Wright. According to CNN, more than 25,000 people retweeted the announcement from the official House of Cards Twitter page.
"BREAKING NEWS," House of Cards announced on Twitter before releasing the video. "President Underwood and the First Lady will be making an announcement today at 11 A.M. EST. Please stand by."
The video ends with President Underwood doing one of his iconic stares to viewers.
Although there have been few leaks about the upcoming Netflix series, a Fashion & Style article listed a few tidbits from season 3.
"It has already been announced that Russian activist-punk band Pussy Riot will be making a guest appearance on the premiere episode," the Fashion & Style article stated. "The group, who were recently jailed by the Kremlin for political dissent, will be playing themselves. This has led to speculation that season 3 will deal with U.S.-Russian relations."
Other fans of the show looked at the original BBC series that it was based on for clues. If it ends up following the British version, Fashion & Style speculated that the season finale would end with Frank's death at hands of his wife, Claire; others think the reverse might happen instead to keep the show going.
However, production of season 3 hasn't gone smoothly this year. According to an article from Deadline written on Feb. 21, production of the political thriller was held off until mid-June to ensure that the show's creators would get the necessary tax credits from the state of Maryland, the location where House of Cards is filmed.
"We hear that MRC is seeking a tax credit for Season 3 in line with Season 2's $15 million, which as of now is impossible as Maryland's current cap is $7.5 million," Deadline reported. "The two bills, which are languishing in committee, would raise the ceiling to $11 million or $18.5 million."
Deadline then cited a letter written by Charlie Goldstein of Media Rights Capital, the company producing House of Cards, threatening to move production out of Maryland if the tax credits weren't approved.
"In the event sufficient incentives do not become available, we will have to break down our stage, sets and offices and set up in another state," the letter stated.
According to CNN, Netflix spent about $100 million to produce the first two seasons of House of Cards. The payoff was worth it though, given that the show garnered nine Emmy nominations and one Emmy win.
All episodes of House of Cards season 3 will be available in its entirety on Netflix starting on Feb. 27.
