Kevin Spacey/David Fincher drama series House of Cards picked up by original content provider… Netflix?

What do HBO, Showtime, AMC, and FX all have in common? According to Deadline, they all just got out-the-f*ck-bid by home video juggernaut Netflix, snagging the upcoming Kevin Spacey/David Fincher drama series “House of Cards” while simultaneously making a pretty big statement about their intent to become a full-fledged original content provider.

Deadline says that Netflix has taken a huge gamble with “House of Cards”, reportedly landing the project by offering an unprecedented commitment of two seasons, or 26 episodes, for a cost that’s believed to be in the $100 million range. This news, of course, comes amid the fact that Netflix will be looking at stronger competition in the streaming content department, thanks to the recently announced efforts of both Amazon and Facebook.

“House of Cards” stars Kevin Spacey and comes written by Beau Willimon (the scribe responsible for the play THE IDES OF MARCH which will be George Clooney’s next directorial/starring film). The pilot episode will be directed by the great David Fincher. Here’s more on the series’ premise:

“The political-thriller novel House of Card, written by Michael Dobbs, former Conservative Party chief of staff, is set at the end of Margaret Thatcher’s tenure as prime minister and follows a British politician with his eye on the top job. In 1990, it was adapted by the BBC as a miniseries written by Andrew Davies and starring Ian Richardson. It went on to win a BAFTA award for Richardson and an Emmy for Davies.”