Kevin Spacey is facing a new civil trial in London, where three men are suing the actor over claims of sexual assault between 2000 and 2013. A judge set a provisional trial date of October 12, 2026, at a hearing in November 2025, though it was not officially determined whether the claims would be heard in a single civil trial or three consecutive ones.
The claims date to Spacey's tenure as artistic director of London's Old Vic theatre, a role he held from 2004 to 2013. One of the men alleges that Spacey "deliberately assaulted" him on approximately 12 occasions between 2000 and 2005. Another alleges that he met Spacey at the Old Vic through a workshop and "suffered psychiatric damage and financial loss" as a result of an assault in 2008. The third man, Ruari Cannon, has waived his right to anonymity. Cannon acted in Tennessee Williams' play Sweet Bird of Youth at the Old Vic in 2013 and reports that Spacey groped him at a party after the show's press night.
Spacey denies all allegations. According to the BBC, he said one allegation was "ridiculous and it never happened". The actor was acquitted of sexual assault charges brought by four men in a UK criminal trial in 2023, and was found not liable by a New York jury in a civil case brought by actor Anthony Rapp in 2022.
The former House of Cards star has described the devastating financial toll of the years of legal battles. He revealed that legal costs forced him to sell his home, explaining: "Because the costs over these last seven years have been astronomical. I've had very little coming in and everything going out." He added: "I'm living in hotels, I'm living in Airbnbs, I'm going where the work is. I literally have no home, that's what I'm attempting to explain."
The London civil trial is expected to be one of the most closely watched celebrity cases of 2026. Because it is a civil case, the standard of proof is the balance of probabilities rather than beyond reasonable doubt, and the claimants are seeking damages. For Spacey, who has struggled to rebuild his career since the allegations first emerged in 2017, the case represents yet another high-stakes chapter in a legal saga that has already cost him his fortune and his home.
Spacey's tenure at the Old Vic from 2004 to 2013 was once seen as the crowning chapter of a celebrated stage career, with acclaimed productions that drew praise from critics and audiences alike. The theatre has since overhauled its safeguarding policies in the wake of the allegations. Whatever the outcome of the civil trial, Spacey's fall from one of Hollywood's most decorated actors - a two-time Academy Award winner - to a man without a home remains one of the most dramatic collapses in modern entertainment history.