Robin Wright takes power as 'House of Cards' returns for final season
At the end of last season's finale of "House of Cards," newly minted President Claire Underwood refused a call from her husband, turned to the camera and proclaimed "My turn." Now as the sixth and final season of the Netflix drama gets underway, we find out exactly what that means.
Opening Friday, Nov. 2, with the award-winning drama series' final eight episodes, the new season picks up a year after the events of last season, with Claire (Robin Wright) firmly entrenched in the Oval Office and her husband, former President Frank Underwood, dead and buried next to his father in South Carolina.
In reality of course, Kevin Spacey, who played Frank for the first five seasons, was dropped from the series after last season due to allegations of sexual misconduct. So after considering all the options the decision was made to kill off the character off-screen, explain it in the opening episode and then move on to Claire and her presidency.
"Part of the goal of the season," explains showrunner Melissa Gibson, "(is) we wanted it to be for Claire one of reckoning with herself and her choices and her past (and) a look at who owns the White House. You know, a look at the power behind the power, and that's partly where the Shepherds come in, the Greg and Diane characters."
The Shepherd siblings Bill and Annette, played by Oscar nominees Greg Kinnear ("As Good as It Gets") and Diane Lane ("Unfaithful"), are industrialist power brokers who share a vision for the future of the country and have a complicated past with the Underwoods. But most importantly, they have Claire's ear and play a major role in her presidency and the season.
Meanwhile, Frank's demise has left his former chief of staff Doug Stamper devastated and finding it difficult to carry on without his mentor and de facto father figure. Early on in the opening episode, we see just how broken he is.
"He's truly lost for the first time in so many years," explains Michael Kelly, who plays Stamper, "and his job, his world, everything changed when she became president to him last year. But it was a manageable thing because he always had Frank. He had purpose, he had drive. And so now she's president and Frank's no longer there and it's like, 'Oh my God! Where's Frank?' He's a little lost. ..."
"You know what's really fun, though," he continues, "is that for those people who are into that Doug/Claire relationship, many people really like that. And you could see it last season. You could see them over the season, one pitting against the other and getting stronger and stronger, and ... you feel that tension building and so that was fun.
"Obviously, some of that takes place in this season."
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"House of Cards"
Begins streaming Friday, Nov. 2, on Netflix