From 'Arrested Development' to 'House of Cards,' Exclusive Portraits of Netflix's Stars

The Threat (and Thrill) of Netflix

“Everybody — everybody — wanted us to do a pilot except for Netflix,” says House of Cards star and producer Kevin Spacey (second from left), photographed May 11 on the Baltimore set with (from left) co-star Robin Wright, Arrested Development’s Will Arnett and Jason Bateman and Netflix chief content officer Ted Sarandos. “Netflix said, ‘We believe in you, we believe in David [Fincher], we believe in the series, so how many [episodes] do you want to do?’ ”

TV's Biggest Threat

Sarandos says that despite some grumbling that Netflix's content costs keep escalating, he has no plans of slowing down as he looks to out-HBO HBO — and fend off new, lower-paying streaming players such as Amazon and Hulu in the process.

On Wright: Alberta Ferretti gown, Brian Atwood shoes. On Spacey: Burberry suit and shoes, Hugo Boss tie and pocket square, Bloomingdale’s belt. On Arnett: John Varvatos tie, Rolex watch. On Bateman: John Varvatos suit, shirt and shoes, Hugo Boss tie, Bloomingdale’s belt. On Sarandos: John Varvatos pocket square.

Ted Sarandos

“I have a deep respect for the fundamentals of television, the traditions of it even, but I don’t have any reverence for it,” says Sarandos.

Will Arnett

Arrested Development, starring an ensemble that includes Arnett, premieres on Netflix on May 26.

Will Arnett

Says Sarandos of Arnett's Arrested Development: "We would love to do more, and we have a deal in place that says that there could be. The problem is logistics. they were all working full-time and doing this show in between, and they did it for the love of the show and for Mitch Hurwitz. If we can muster up that love again, we’d love to do it again. and we have talked openly about a movie scenario, too."

Jason Bateman, Will Arnett

“They didn’t impose themselves into the creative process, and thus they didn’t homogenize the product,” says Bateman (left, with Arnett) of Netflix’s hands-off role in making Arrested Development.

Jason Bateman

"[Reviving] Arrested made sense for us because the show was a cult favorite and we’ve had it for a number of years and knew how many new fans were being created through our service," says Netflix vp original programming Cindy Holland. "And because there had been talk of the movie, we knew that Mitch [Hurwitz] was interested in doing it again and that the cast loved it."

Kevin Spacey

House of Cards director David Fincher cut seven different trailers for the show, starring Spacey and Robin Wright. "Some of them were focused really heavily on the female characters, some on the politics, some on Kevin Spacey, one on David Fincher," Sarandos says. "So the trailer that [Netflix users] saw was based on what [they] were just watching or what [they] just watched recently."

Kevin Spacey

Spacey's House of Cards, which Sarandos snapped up in a jaw-dropping $100 million, two-season deal, bowed Feb. 1 to near-unanimous praise, with many heralding the streaming service as a legitimate rival to premium cable outlets HBO and Showtime.

Robin Wright

Of House of Cards, Sarandos says, "One of the things that surprised me was that women love the show because they love Robin Wright."

Robin Wright

House of Cards will be sent on DVD to Emmy voters. Says Sarandos, “There’s obviously a demographic in that voting population that isn’t streaming.”