House of Cards

This article describes the American television series, for additional meanings see House of Cards (disambiguation) .

Television series
German title	House of Cards
Original title	House of Cards
Country of production	United States
original language	English
Year (s)	2013-2018
Production company	Media Rights Capital , Trigger Street Productions
length	42-59 minutes
Episodes	73 in 6 seasons ( List )
genre	Political thriller , drama
idea	Michael Dobbs , Andrew Davies , Beau Willimon
music	Jeff Beal
Initial release	February 1, 2013 (US) on Netflix
German-language first broadcast	February 4th, 2013 on Sky Atlantic HD
occupation
synchronization

House of Cards ( English for house of cards ) is an American television series , which was first broadcast in 2013 on the video-on-demand provider Netflix and which is mainly assigned to the genres of political thriller and drama . It tells the story of the sly MP Francis "Frank" Underwood, who, together with his similarly power-hungry wife , creates a system of intrigue , corruption and murder in order to rise to higher political offices and thus increase his power.

The series was developed as an extended adaptation of the BBC miniseries Ein Kartenhaus , which in turn is based on the novel of the same name by Michael Dobbs and which was first broadcast in 1990. The title is a play on words with the English name for various parliaments such as the British House of Lords or the American House of Representatives . The logo of the series shows an upside down stars and stripes : the US flag is only hoisted in this form when a unit of US soldiers is in distress . In other cases, under federal law , this is theoretically a criminal denigration of a state symbol. In fact, however, the law is not enforced because it is unconstitutional. Produced House of Cards from Media Rights Capital and the production company Trigger Street Productions, by Kevin Spacey was the protagonist of the series, co-founded.

With the end of the fourth season, the departure of the previous series creator and show runner Beau Willimon became known. Melissa James Gibson and Frank Pugliese , who had previously worked as screenwriters on the series, took over his role with the start of production of the fifth season .

A few weeks after filming the sixth season began, lead actor Spacey was accused of sexual harassment. Shortly thereafter, Netflix announced the discontinuation of the series after the sixth season, which was planned well in advance. On December 4, 2017, Netflix confirmed previous reports that Kevin Spacey was no longer part of the cast. Production for the eight-episode sixth and final season began in 2018. In the sixth season, Robin Wright played the lead role as Claire Underwood. The last season was released on November 2, 2018 in the USA on Netflix and on the same day on the VoD services of Sky Germany in German in one go.

A special stylistic device in the representation is the repeated breaking through of the so-called fourth wall . Frank Underwood, the protagonist of the series, directs his often sarcastic or cynical remarks directly to the viewer, who is thus initiated into the main character's intrigues. From the end of the fifth season, Claire Underwood takes on this role.

action

Washington, DC

The series takes place in the American capital Washington, DC. The centerpiece is Francis J. "Frank" Underwood ( Kevin Spacey ), an intelligent, experienced and power-conscious congressman of the Democratic Party . As Majority Whip (actually comparable to the parliamentary group manager, translated into German in the series as “parliamentary group chairman”) of the Democrats, it is his job to bring the MPs on the party line or government line. When the coveted and already promised post of foreign minister is withheld from him by the new president and party friend Garrett Walker ( Michel Gill ), Underwood seeks revenge. He increases his political influence through intrigue and unscrupulous behavior, supported by his calculating wife Claire ( Robin Wright ). Frank now uses his intimate knowledge of politics in Washington and instrumentalizes, among others, the ambitious reporter Zoe Barnes ( Kate Mara ) for his goals.

season 1

The series begins with a scene in which Congressman Francis Underwood shows off his ruthless pragmatism by killing a dog hit by a car. He looks directly into the camera and uses this example to explain to the viewer that “moments like these require someone who takes on the unpleasant, the necessary”. Accompanied by this motif, the viewer follows Francis "Frank" Underwood, a power-hungry Democratic MP from South Carolina and the Majority Whip of the US House of Representatives . After significantly supporting the new President Garrett Walker in his presidential election campaign, Walker promised him the office of foreign minister. Before his inauguration, however, he learns from Walker's chief of staff, Linda Vasquez, that he is more useful because of the challenges ahead in the House of Representatives. Underwood initially reacts angrily, but shortly afterwards forges together with his chief of staff Doug Stamper and his wife Claire secret plans for revenge in order to harm the upcoming Walker administration.

In the US House of Representatives Francis Underwood his task goes as Majority Whip to

Underwood's first goal is to remove Senator Michael Kern, who is being publicly proclaimed by the government as a new candidate for the post of Secretary of State. For example, Underwood, through reporter Zoe Barnes, circulated an earlier newspaper article in which Kern was hostile to the Israeli occupation of Gaza in 1978 . He also uses the unstable Congressman Peter Russo, who is pressured by Underwood after Doug covers up his arrest after driving under the influence of alcohol. Russo then travels to Roy Kapeniak, who worked with Kern in the editorial department in 1978 and is now supposed to convince the media of Kern's authorship. After Russo has been able to convince him and the news has become public, President Walker has to withdraw his candidate. He eventually appoints Catherine Durant as Secretary of State, previously positioned in the media by Underwood and Zoe. Russo is later also used by Underwood to bring about the end of a teachers' strike and thus the passage of an important education law. These successes increase Underwood's reputation with President Walker.

Frank's wife Claire heads the NGO Clean Water Initiative (CWI). In the first episode, she enthusiastically decides in favor of a more international orientation of the organization, so that regions overseas can also be supplied with clean water. However, this new direction meets with concerns from the office manager. Claire instructs her to lay off half of all employees. She later asks about the progress and finally informs the office manager that she too has to leave the organization herself.

Since the new Vice President Jim Matthews has resigned from his previous office as Governor of Pennsylvania , there is a by-election to fill the position. Underwood helps Pennsylvania native Peter Russo get rid of his drug and alcohol problems and supports his candidacy. Shortly before the election, he uses the prostitute Rachel Posner - who was already present as a passenger on Russo's alcohol ride - to break Russo's alcohol abstinence and initiate his failure. After a radio interview under the influence of alcohol, he drops out of the election campaign and threatens Underwood to unpack in the media about his role in the intrigue. Underwood then acts and kills Russo by leaving him in a closed garage with the engine running. To counter the chaos of the election, Underwood convinces Vice President Matthews to step down and return to governorship. Underwood's plan would then work and the position of Vice President he was aiming for would become free.

However, President Walker initially makes it appear that he has other plans to fill the position. He sends Underwood as a close confidante for a thorough examination of the supposed candidate Raymond Tusk. Underwood realizes in the course of his visit that he should be checked himself. He also learns that the President and Tusk have been close friends for many years (as was Tusk's advice to Walker to withdraw Underwood's appointment as Secretary of State). However, Tusk makes a condition for his recommendation and explains Underwood that he only advises Walker an appointment if Underwood aligns his future policy as Vice President according to Tusk's interests. He then countered Tusk with a counter-proposal based on cooperation that should serve the interests of both. Meanwhile, Zoe and her fellow reporters Janine and Lucas begin to link the clues and uncover Underwood's plans. At the end of the season, Underwood accepts the presidential nomination and rises to become Vice President-elect.

season 2

Francis is about to be sworn in as Vice President, while Zoe, Lucas and Janine continue their research. So that they don't contact Rachel again, Francis' Chief of Staff Doug moves her to a secluded apartment. Meanwhile, Underwood arranges a meeting with Zoe at a subway station. He persuades them to delete the shared message histories and contact details, and ultimately pushes them, unobserved by eyewitnesses or security cameras and covered by a barrier, in front of an incoming train. After Janine is confronted by an anonymous person with the nude pictures of Zoe taken by Francis, she gives up research in order to leave town and avoid the danger of death.

As Vice President, Francis maintains an office in the White House

Lucas, who is convinced of Underwood's deed, continues his research alone to solve the death of his girlfriend. He contacts the hacker Gavin Orsay and asks him to restore the data from Zoe's cell phone so that he can prove the contact between Zoe and Francis. However, Gavin works for FBI liaison officer Nathan Green. Green, in turn, was hired by Doug to lure Lucas into a trap. After Lucas' successful arrest as part of a server tour, Lucas is found guilty of cyber terrorism and imprisoned.

Due to her obligations as a second lady and a threatened lawsuit by her fired colleague Gillian Cole, Claire resigns as head of CWI. In a high-profile television interview, she confesses that she was raped while studying and therefore decided to have an abortion . She befriends the First Lady and works together to develop a draft law aimed at reforming the criminal prosecution of sexual assaults in the military. Over time, Claire notices that the Walkers' marriage is being strained by the presidency and offers the first lady to refer her and the president to a marriage counselor.

Francis tries meanwhile to drive a wedge between the businessman Raymond Tusk and President Walker and therefore ruins the relationship with the Chinese, with whom Tusk originally has a good business relationship, in unofficial diplomacy talks with the businessman Xander Feng, an ally of Tusk. Francis consciously accepts that he and President Walker could be harmed if Tusks set back. Ultimately, this leads to a trade war between China and the United States, as a result of which energy prices rise. Tusk bluntly opposes Walker's efforts to end the crisis and injects campaign money into Republican PACs through a casino . When Underwood finds out that the money actually came from Xander Feng, he persuades Feng to end the partnership.

The Justice Department is meanwhile out that Doug has been on a visit at the casino videotaped and determined about possible connections between Feng, Tusk and the White House. Underwood strives for a good relationship of trust between Special Counsel Heather Dunbar and the White House and persuades the President to work together and, in particular, to hand over his travel logs, which include the visits to marriage counseling. Originally, the protocols should raise the question of whether the inadmissible party donations were ever discussed. In order to avoid media revelations about his marital problems, the president instructs the White House legal advisor to initiate his marriage counselor. However, Dunbar classifies this as influencing witnesses. Meanwhile, Gavin uses Rachel Posner's existence to blackmail Doug. Fearing another move and increasing control over her, Rachel injures Doug in the head with a rock in a remote forest before she escapes in his car.

When the House Judiciary Committee examines the impeachment paragraphs , both the President and Underwood Tusk offer a presidential pardon. In exchange, Walker and Underwood expect Tusk to involve each other in the case. Tusk initially takes sides with the president, leaving Underwood no choice but to appeal to the old friendship between him and Walker. As a token of his friendship with Underwood, President Walker calls off the pardon deal with Tusk, whereupon Tusk appears before the Judiciary Committee of the House of Representatives and first asserts the fifth amendment to the constitution . Eventually, Tusk confesses that the president knew about the collusion with China, leaving Walker no choice but to step down to avoid an inevitable impeachment. Underwood offers Walker in a personal letter, however, to take full responsibility for this and to step down from his office, which the president refuses. Immediately after Walker's resignation at Camp David , Underwood is sworn in as the 46th President of the United States.

season 3

As the unelected president, Frank is confronted with resistance from the democratic party leadership, which advises against running for president. Determined to leave a legacy and not be a 'placeholder president', he publicly declares that he will not run for office and will instead dedicate his term to his America Works job creation program. Meanwhile, Claire wants to become an ambassador to the United Nations . However, due to an unfortunate statement during a survey, the Senate rejects her nomination. Claire then uses the power of her husband, who appoints her ambassador by decree (so-called Recess Appointment ). During the first diplomatic talks with the Russian ambassador, however, she encountered resistance.

In the Oval Office , President Underwood rules the United States

Doug slowly recovers from his Rachel injuries and succumbs to a long-controlled alcohol addiction. To track down Rachel, Doug contacts Gavin to help him find her. Gavin, who now works in the FBI's cyber terrorism department, insists on the opportunity to flee abroad. Meanwhile, during a state dinner at the White House, Russian President Viktor Petrov makes great demands of Francis over a conflict in the Middle East. Furthermore, Dunbar surprisingly announces her presidential candidacy, which annoys Francis.

Doug contacts Dunbar and tells her that he wants to work for her as a consultant. To gain her trust, he shows her a doctor's diary, which proves that Claire's abortions occurred long after the date of the rape she was accused of. Both parties agree to work together, but it ends after Gavin showed Doug documents that are supposed to prove Rachel's death. The finds handed down by him belong to an unknown person, but they match Rachel's fingerprints. Distraught, desperate, and consumed by alcohol, Doug asks his brother Gary to stay with him for a while.

Funding for Francis' America Works job creation program is in jeopardy due to a hurricane . Ultimately, Francis signs a bill that will cut funding from his program and financially prepare the east coast for the hurricane. When, contrary to expectations, the hurricane does not hit land, Francis decides to run because America Works has proven its usefulness during a test phase in Washington, DC. For advertising purposes, Francis hired the writer Tom Yates, who should write a book about the program. As the season progressed, however, Yates became more interested in the Underwoods' marriage. Finally, he presents Frank and Claire with his draft of the first chapter, in which, in Frank's opinion, he goes too much into marriage, after which he is released from his work. On the other hand, Claire, who seems to have more and more doubts about marriage, has a catalytic effect.

During a stay in Moscow , Francis and Petrov negotiate mutually acceptable conditions to transfer the imprisoned US human rights activist Michael Corrigan, who previously protested against the Russian government, to the United States. In an interview with Claire, who was traveling with him, Corrigan is vehemently reluctant to present a statement drawn up by both governments and is delaying the diplomatic talks between Francis and Petrov that are taking place at the same time. After the activist hanged himself in his cell, Claire sharply criticized the Russian president at a joint press conference, thereby undoing the terms previously negotiated by her husband. Ultimately, at Petrov's request, Underwood has to persuade his wife to resign as ambassador.

Claire represents the United States on the UN Security Council

In the middle of the campaign, Dunbar tries to harm the Underwoods and contacts Doug to get the diary into their possession. After that, Doug is tracked down by Francis' bodyguard Meechum. In front of Francis' eyes, Doug removes the incriminating page from the diary and burns it. Francis then named him to succeed his previous chief of staff, Remy Danton. Meanwhile, Gavin, who has since fled to Venezuela , informs Doug that he had given him false information and that Rachel is still alive. He wanted to discover her whereabouts as soon as Doug helped him free a hacker friend from prison. With the assistance of the FBI Assistant Director, Doug tracks down Gavin and uses violence to extract information about Rachel's whereabouts.

Doug sets off on his mission and finds Rachel, who has bought a fake identity and started a new life from small jobs in the state of New Mexico . Apparently with the intention of killing Rachel, he drives her into the deserted desert, where he digs a grave for her. After Rachel reveals her new identity to him, Doug rethinks his plan and lets her go. He drives away, but turns around again and you can see how he shovels up the grave dug for her, in which parts of her head still covered by stone and earth can be seen. Doug then returns to Washington, DC and meets Francis, who asks him if he has been successful, revealing himself as the actual client.

In the last episodes of the season, the middle of the primaries in Iowa play, tensions between Francis and Claire are clearly increasing. Last but not least, these were favored by Yates, whose draft book made her increasingly doubt the marriage. During a verbal argument in the Oval Office, she expresses that she only sees herself as a helper for her husband's success and no longer - as in all previous years - as an equal partner. This argument is followed the next day by Claire's declaration that she is leaving him.

Season 4

Immediately after the third season, Claire goes to her native Texas to organize her own election campaign for a seat in the House of Representatives together with advisor LeAnn Harvey. However, the incumbent of her district, Doris Jones, wants to pass the seat on to her daughter Celia. Claire offers them the financing of a clinic for the waiver, but is rejected with her proposal. Francis, meanwhile, has suffered a defeat in the New Hampshire primary without Claire . After the media reports of alleged marital problems between him and Claire, Doug learns that Claire's mother, Elizabeth Hale, has cancer , which the Underwoods publicly justify Claire's long visit to Texas. In return, Francis gives her the promise not to want to sabotage her planned election campaign in Texas. Two weeks later, during the State of the Union address , he publicly announces his support for Celia Jones and thus destroys Claire's ambitions. Then the Underwoods travel together to the primary in Francis' home state South Carolina. A series of scandals there cast a bad light on Francis, so that he also loses his home state to Dunbar. As Francis finds out, the main reason for the defeat is Claire, who passed harmful information on to Dunbar and thus sealed his defeat. Claire finally asks him to make her a candidate for the vice presidency. Otherwise, she wants to continue to undermine his election campaign.

Lucas Goodwin, incarcerated for cyber terrorism since the second season, is released early from prison and is placed on a witness protection program . He uses his new freedom to approach Francis' competitor Dunbar at an election rally. He describes his theories to her; including that Francis was responsible for the murders of Zoe Barnes and Peter Russo. However, Dunbar makes her point of view clear and says that she does not want to have anything to do with it. After Francis gave a speech at a university, Lucas finally committed an assassination attempt in which he was shot himself. While Francis' bodyguard Meechum dies, Francis is badly injured in the liver and has to be put into a coma . After a short time it was revealed that he would need a liver transplant to survive. Meanwhile, Vice President Donald Blythe takes over the office as acting president. In a critical military situation that also involves Russia, Blythe seeks foreign policy advice from Claire. She deviates from Francis' previous intentions and convinces Blythe to involve China in the conflict. When Lucas' apartment is searched, a document is found that makes his theories public. Claire denies the allegations and can also bring about a solution to the foreign policy conflict at the G8 summit in Brandenburg by negotiating with Russian President Petrov. Meanwhile, Doug, with assistance from press secretary Seth Grayson, can incriminate Dunbar. During interrogation, Dunbar describes the proceedings as the president's smear campaign, even though Francis is still in a coma. She then announced the end of her presidential candidacy.

Important national security matters are decided in the Situation Room in the White House (here headed by Barack Obama , 2009).

Francis, meanwhile, is getting a new liver and is able to return to the presidency after agreeing with Claire to force her run for president. Instead of saying so, however, both choose Catherine Durant as their favorite for the vice presidency. With the help of a planned weapons law, they can manipulate the party leadership so that they agree on an open election process for the national party congress of the Democrats. Meanwhile, at the Democratic National Convention , that party convention, they continue to express their sympathy for Durant. However, when Durant gains knowledge of the Underwoods 'real intentions - more and more delegates are voting for Claire, even though she has not been nominated - she arranges a counterattack with the support of Republican presidential candidate Will Conway that endangers Francis' own presidential candidacy. Ultimately, Claire can benefit from the death of her mother, which she actively accelerated by administering medication and which ultimately secures her nomination. The Underwoods are confirmed as candidates for their party. Meanwhile, Tom Hammerschmidt, the former editor-in-chief of the Washington Herald , spurred on by Lucas' document, resumes his research. He learns indirectly that Francis had an affair with Zoe. He can also prove through Meechum's travel reports that Francis met Daniel Lanagin as Vice President. Hammerschmidt contacts Remy Danton, who has withdrawn from politics. Remy confirms that Francis pushed the impeachment process of former President Garrett Walker to become president himself. Hammerschmidt is able to convince Walker, Remy and also Jackie Sharp to testify against Francis in an article.

The hostage-taking of an American family by the radical Islamist group Islamic Caliphate Organization (ICO) is making national headlines. So the hostage takers only want to negotiate with the Republican presidential candidate Conway. Francis invites Conway and his family to the White House so they can take part in the negotiations. After the tensions between Conway and Francis he is summoned from the White House by Francis. Francis and Claire allow the hostage takers to speak to the imprisoned ICO leader Yusuf al Ahmadi to try to defuse the situation. However, Al Ahmadi instructs the hostage takers to kill one of the hostages. Meanwhile, Hammerschmidt publishes his article in the Washington Herald, threatening to end Francis' presidential candidacy just weeks before the election. Claire convinces Francis to get the situation under control; when addressing the nation, he announces that the country is at war on terror. The last scene of the season shows Francis and Claire watching the video of the execution of the last hostage motionless in the Situation Room of the White House . Francis and Claire address the viewer and say that you do not surrender to terror, but create it yourself.

Season 5

After the announcement of war, President Francis Underwood unsuccessfully promotes the official entry into the war in a speech in the House of Representatives, which Tom Hammerschmidt publicly describes as a diversion for his published article. Will Conway, meanwhile, intends to redirect the focus to the crimes of the president highlighted in the article. So he meets with the Democratic MP Alex Romero, whom he promises enough time should he investigate Underwood in the war committee. While the committee is investigating, Underwood is using a cyberattack on Washington, DC telecommunications infrastructure to convince Congress of a threat from ICO and to induce MPs to change course. Will Conway gives citizens the opportunity to ask questions at a 24-hour live event organized by Pollyhop on the day before the presidential election. On the day of the elections, Francis and his wife Claire learn that the turnout in the polling states of Pennsylvania and Ohio is not in line with projections and is exceptionally low. Since this points towards a Will Conway victory, the Underwoods fuel the fear of terrorism. For example, they inform the governor of Tennessee that the ICO terrorist Muhammed Kalabi is planning an attack on one of his election centers. A little later, an incident occurs in front of an election center, as a result of which the governor imposes a curfew. In order to prevent an impending defeat, the Underwoods have Aidan Macallan produce fake intelligence documents that are supposed to convince the governor of Ohio of planned attacks. The governor then announced the closure of some election centers.

Meanwhile, Jane Davis, a senior Commerce Department official who has an extensive network of connections and influence, is working closely with the Underwoods. As a private citizen, Frank attends a meeting of powerful men in a secret society called Elysian Fields in order to secure their influence over the votes in the upcoming special election. Meanwhile, Conway has a nervous breakdown in his private plane. When he sees that his candidate is losing, Conway's campaign manager Mark Usher joins the Underwoods. The Underwoods win both Ohio and Tennessee, and Frank is sworn in as president and Claire as vice president.

Hammerschmidt continues to investigate Zoe's death and receives information from an unknown informant at the White House. Important documents are made available to Hammerschmidt, which among other things leads to an indictment against Frank. In response, the Underwoods put all White House staff under surveillance. Finally, an informant makes a voice-modulated call to Hammerschmidt that implicates Doug in Zoe's murder. The Underwoods convince Doug to take the blame, and the informant is exposed as Frank himself. The revelations are part of Frank's master plan to cede the presidency to Claire because he believes that his thirst for power in the private sector can be better satisfied if he works with his wife as president. Frank, concerned about Durant's intention to testify on the indictment, pushes her down the stairs after accepting her resignation, causing her to be taken to hospital, seriously injured. Claire poisons Yates with an overdose of Gelsemium given to her by Jane, concerned about knowing too much. Eventually, contractors working for the Underwoods eliminate LeAnn by ramming their car into a guardrail off the road. Frank steps back and the two wait for the right moment for Claire to pardon him. But Claire hesitates. The season ends with Claire ignoring Frank's calls and then addressing the audience directly: "Now it's my turn."

Season 6

The season begins 100 days after Claire took office. Frank is now dead. The siblings Bill and Annette Shepherd try to influence Claire. The Sheperds have a network with Mark Usher, whom Claire has named Vice President and who is having an affair with Annette. Annette's son Duncan puts pressure on Claire through his media company Gardner Analytics. Claire and the Shepherds discuss deregulation, and Claire uses a chemical incident at a Shepherds facility to embarrass them. Doug is now in therapy after confessing to Zoe's murder. Claire uses Assistant Director Green and his psychiatrist to monitor him.

The Shepherds decide to influence Claire in another way - to appoint Judge Abruzzo to the Supreme Court. She and Seth Grayson are developing an app that can secretly monitor user activity, including location. Secretary of State Durant also falls under the Shepherds' sphere of influence. She is persuaded to speak to prosecutors investigating the Underwoods. Durant's testimony poses a threat, so Claire and Jane Davis plan to murder her, but she fakes her death and leaves the country. After the supposed death of Durant, Claire and President Petrov sign a treaty on Syria. Claire learns that Durant is alive and, with Petrov's help, is in France. She then disappears for three weeks, which raises questions about her leadership. Usher is therefore planning her impeachment under the 25th Amendment. Claire thwarts Usher's plan, fires her cabinet and replaces it with an all-female one, much to Annette's surprise. Annette wants to use Claire's abortions against her; Claire, for her part, takes revenge by revealing to Duncan that this is not Annette's biological son.

With her new cabinet, Claire wants to set a new, progressive agenda. The Shepherds want to continue weakening Claire with the help of Brett Cole, an ambitious congressman who wants to become the House Speaker. They also seek the help of Doug, who initially refuses. Doug meets with Hammerschmidt and informs him about Frank's machinations. Determined to fight back against her enemies, Claire accuses Usher of murdering Yates. She accuses him of having worked with Russia on this. Tom Hammerschmidt, Catherine Durant and Jane Davis are killed in quick succession. Claire reveals to Doug that she is pregnant with Frank's child, who will become Frank's inheritance, even though Frank secretly gave his fortune to Doug.

Four months after the murders, Claire goes back to her maiden name. Annette, now stressed by Bill, plans to murder Claire with Usher, who is no longer Vice President. She asks Doug to do the deed, but he hesitates, mostly to protect Frank's legacy. Claire blackmailed Judge Abruzzo through the current spokesman, Cole. Janine Skorsky and Doug continue to work to uncover the Underwoods' machinations using Frank's secret audio diary. Claire then uses the ICO's pretext to obtain a nuclear weapon to create a crisis. She gets the Shepherds and Doug to speed up their plans. Doug arrives at the White House, but before he can kill Claire, she forces him to reveal himself as Frank's murderer. Claire then stabs Doug with Frank's letter opener, and the series ends with her turning to the audience and saying "no more pain".

characters

Francis Underwood

Kevin Spacey plays Francis Underwood

Francis J. Underwood, called Frank, born in Gaffney , South Carolina , is Democratic Congressman and Majority Whip in the US House of Representatives at the beginning of the series , before becoming Vice President from the second episode of the second season and at the end of the second season is sworn in as the 46th President of the United States .

Francis, who is only called that by his wife, is a sly politician who knows exactly how to achieve his set goals. Equipped with an astute mind, Underwood acts purposefully and extremely effectively on projects that he has set in his head. He is an extremely power hungry person with an extraordinary ability to accomplish his pursuit of power and retaliation. For this he does not shy away from deceiving former allies and eliminating those people who stand in his way to achieve the set goal. If he is rejected or if a promise made to him is not kept, he immediately plans revenge and tries to weaken the position of his counterpart. In the course of the series, the viewer learns that Francis does not shy away from criminal acts, even murder, and is thus willing to take great risks to prevent his machinations from being disclosed. In addition, he also reveals a warm and caring side in order to gain the trust of those around him. Despite his actions, Francis has no remorse, although he destroys other lives and careers. Unlike in day-to-day politics, Francis shows an honest side of himself in private. He has a particular sympathy for his wife Claire and, to a lesser extent, for the reporter Zoe Barnes. He also protects and takes care of the people in his immediate vicinity, for example his chief of staff Doug Stamper, whom he even describes as a "friend", the former operator of the BBQ joint Freddy Hayes and his bodyguards Steve and Edward Meechum.

Because of its origin Francis has a Southern - dialect . Francis earned his degree at the fictional military academy The Sentinel and then studied at Harvard Law . Francis has a mostly negative opinion of his father Calvin T. Underwood, who died of a heart attack at the age of 43 . In the third episode of the first season, for example, on the sidelines of a funeral oration for a young girl, he told viewers that his father was "quiet, closed, almost invisible", that his mother didn't think much of him and that his grandmother even detested him. His father had "not the slightest idea about life", so that his early death was "perhaps the best". In addition, he “only took up space”. In the funeral oration itself, he instrumentalizes his father's death by speaking positively about him and calling it the person he loved and admired most. In the last episode of the second season, Francis tells that at the age of 13 he found his father with a shotgun in his mouth. His father did not have the courage to pull the trigger himself; he asked Francis, which he refused. The following seven years were "hell" for him, but especially for Francis and his mother. During these years he brought suffering to the family with his "addiction to drink, despair and violence". In his life, Francis only regrets “not pulling the trigger at the time” because his father would have been “better off in the grave”, as would the family without him. This aversion is confirmed in the first episode of the third season when Francis visits his father's grave after the election as US President and urinates on it. Francis cites the only reason for the visit that it makes him appear "more human". Francis also says that he was the only guest at his father's funeral after his death in 1978. In addition, he was so poor when he died that Francis paid for the tombstone from his college scholarship. His mother worked mainly as a housemaid , as Francis tells in the seventh episode of the third season. Because of the color of her skin, she was in great demand. Nevertheless, she allowed herself to be tempted to commit theft. Among other things, she stole sapphire earrings, which she later handed in to the pawn shop . In the meantime she slept with the earrings to get, as Francis suspected, a feeling for "real jewelry". Francis' great, great, great grandfather Augustus Elijah Underwood died at the age of 24 in the American Civil War , which he fought for the Confederates .

Francis does not have a good relationship with religion, which is shown in the fourth episode of the third season when he spits in the face of a figure of Jesus in a church. Underwood directs some of his remarks to the audience by turning his gaze to the camera. The series therefore partly uses a narrative technique with which the so-called fourth wall is broken through. Immediately before joining House of Cards , Kevin Spacey starred in a production of Shakespeare's Richard III. the role of Richard III. , a character that Underwood is partially based on. Oscar Underwood , who was the first Democratic Whip in the US House of Representatives from 1900 to 1901 , may have been the godfather of his last name . His vices include spare ribs and smoking cigarettes (but not in public). In addition, Underwood is bisexual and enjoys playing first-person shooters and strategy games; later he also takes a liking to making model figures .

Francis Underwood is killed with the help of Doug Stamper's liver drugs. Stamper wanted to prevent Francis from killing Claire and thus destroying his life's work.

After taking the medication, Francis drives to the White House and impregnates Claire. He dies that night on the carpet in his old White House room.

Claire Underwood

Robin Wright plays Claire Underwood

Claire Underwood, born in Dallas , Texas , is Francis' wife and initially heads the Clean Water Initiative charity before relinquishing the leadership of her organization due to her second and first lady responsibilities . In the third season, she serves the United States as Ambassador for the United Nations for some time before she is forced to resign.

In most cases, she supports Frank in his machinations and thus proves to be just as emotionally cold, manipulative and power-hungry. She is a strong and determined person who does not want to be appeased or put on a pedestal by her husband. The fact that Frank was the only one of her admirers to understand this is one of the reasons for the marriage. As the director of the CWI charity, she uses her position to expand her own power and that of her husband. She is able to act just as coldly and calculatively as Frank, which she proves by firing half of her employees. Unlike Francis, she is occasionally prone to guilt and sadness due to her ruthless actions. Despite all personal ambitions and self-sacrificing devotion to marriage, part of her longs for a life with greater freedom. Because of this, she wants to leave Francis after the third season. At the beginning of the fourth season, she moves to her mother in Texas to plan her election campaign for a seat in Congress. After the sabotage of Francis' campaign in his home state South Carolina, she published a photo of his father with representatives of the Ku Klux Klan, confronting her husband with the fact that he should nominate her as a candidate for the office of Vice President. At first Francis tries to dissuade her from this idea, but agrees after his coma and later nominates her as his vice-presidential candidate. Towards the end of the fourth season she begins an affair with the author Tom Yates, which is approved by Francis. As with her husband Francis, cigarettes are her vice. She is also a passionate jogger.

Doug Stamper

Michael Kelly plays Doug Stamper

Douglas Stamper, nicknamed Doug, serves Frank as chief of staff until the end of season two. After taking a career break due to serious injuries, President Frank Underwood named him Chief of Staff of the White House at the end of season three .

As his closest confidante, he supports Frank unconditionally and with great loyalty in his endeavors. Nevertheless, he does not shy away from expressing his opinion without being asked to warn Frank of potential dangers or to motivate him to take action. He proves to be a reliable and eager worker in the background, carefully looking for loopholes and keeping Frank's back free. Like Frank, he does not shy away from criminal acts, as he proves through bribery and even murder. Just like Frank, he shows no remorse for his actions, but follows the path he has chosen without hesitation. Doug, who attaches great importance to discipline and self-control as a dry alcoholic, is portrayed as a lonely private person in the first two seasons. In addition to his professional relationship with Frank, who even describes him as a "friend", Doug is in regular contact with the prostitute Rachel Posner, whom he has been monitoring since she became an accessory to the Peter Russo affair . In the third season, his brother Gary takes care of him during his rehabilitation. Due to a lack of social contacts, he sees his purpose in life in political work and absolute loyalty to Francis. This self-sacrifice culminates in the fact that at the end of the third season, on behalf of Frank, Doug tracks down and kills the escaped Rachel.

Doug Stamper is stabbed to death by Claire using the letter opener he received from Francis the previous season after he told her about Francis' murder and the background to his intentions.

Zoe Barnes

Kate Mara plays Zoe Barnes

Zoe Barnes first works as a reporter for the Washington Herald , before being fired during the first season and then working for the online portal Slugline .

As a young and aspiring reporter, Zoe wants to be respected and taken seriously. She is not afraid to speak her mind and goes on a confrontational course if she deems it necessary to achieve her goals. She is also familiar with the means of provocation, as she proves through her freedom of movement and her brisk conversation style. In order to be able to report on more important topics and to lift the veil of politics, she even accepts the fact that Frank uses her for his purposes and as a mouthpiece. Although she sees through his actions, she dedicates her professional presence entirely to the benefit that Underwood derives from her publications. She aligns her professional future with him and, after consulting him, hires at Slugline after the relationship has even resulted in a sexual relationship. Because of this, she sometimes rejects other romantic relationships, such as with Lucas Goodwin, with whom she ultimately enters into a relationship at the end of the first season. At the beginning of the second season, she is killed by Frank Underwood.

Peter Russo

Corey Stoll plays Peter Russo

Peter Russo is a Democratic Congressman from Pennsylvania . There he runs for governor during the first season before he has to withdraw his candidacy.

Peter is an extroverted and charming politician who, due to prostitution and drug and alcohol consumption, has clashed with the law a few times and is therefore easy to influence. Because of the leverage that Frank has against him, Peter shows himself loyal to him. Peter can control his life if something is important to him, such as the relationship with his office manager Christina Gallagher, his two children Sarah and Kevin or his professional career. As a family man, he acts lovingly and caring. In addition, Peter attaches great importance to the opinion that other people have of him and his actions. He does not like to talk about his past including excesses and fails to recognize his own mistakes and to take responsibility for them. Even small professional setbacks can lead him to indulge in alcohol and drug consumption or women. Ultimately, this also leads to his death arranged by Frank.

Garrett Walker

Michel Gill plays Garrett Walker

Garrett Walker denies his first days as the newly elected 45th President of the United States at the beginning of the series . He held this office until the end of the second season, before he was forced to resign due to a series of intrigues arranged by Frank, his wife and later also Raymond, and thus anticipated the impeachment initiated against him .

Walker is an intelligent politician with convincing ideas and whose gut instinct tends to lead him to make the right decisions. Unfortunately, he is faced with two manipulators, Frank, whom he did not make ministerial against promises in the election campaign, and his friend and mentor Raymond, who, due to their extraordinary skills in this area, easily influence him to assert their own interests. Therefore, Walker appears as a weak president who is a susceptible target for manipulation and reveals signs of naivety and indecision. In particular, he cannot see through Frank's machinations for a long time and even nominates him for the office of Vice President at the end of the first season. His family, consisting of his wife Tricia and two children, is extremely important to him, which is why he - despite the risk of media exploitation of his marital problems - agrees to the marriage counseling initiated by Claire in the background . Ultimately, this will mean the end of his presidency.

Raymond Tusk

Gerald McRaney plays Raymond Tusk

Raymond Tusk is a billionaire industrialist and a good friend and confidante of President Garrett Walker. Walker always follows his advice. As it becomes known at the end of the first season, he spoke out to Walker against the appointment of Underwoods as Secretary of State in order to get his plans through the Congress. He has a passion for breeding rare birds.

While he gives the impression of a humble and honest entrepreneur in the first season, it becomes clear in the course of the second season that Tusk is an unscrupulous businessman who uses his political influence for his own purposes. Tusk's influence on the president is in turn used and manipulated by Frank in order to play off both opponents against each other, whereby Tusk is defeated in the power struggle with Frank at the end of the second season.

In the fourth season, Tusk is summoned to the White House by Claire Underwood and helps the White House, while her husband Francis is in a coma, to solve a crisis with Russia.

Heather Dunbar

Heather Dunbar initially holds the office of United States Solicitor General and, at the end of season two, will serve as a special investigator in the money laundering investigation that eventually leads to Walker's resignation. In the third season, she announces her presidential candidacy, which she faces in the internal party primaries of the Democrats Francis and Jackie.

Dunbar is portrayed as a person of integrity who wants to free the Oval Office from scandals with her presidential candidacy. According to her election campaign motto Balance the Scales (German for “equalize inequalities”), she advocates fair wages among other things. During the primaries, however, it also uses increasingly harder means. So she is willing to pay Doug a high price for the diary about Claire's abortions and thus harm the Underwoods. She also refuses to take the place of her good friend Robert Jacobs, a Supreme Court judge with Alzheimer's disease, although Jacobs cannot remember her name in a conversation with her. In the South Carolina primary, she harms Francis with a photo taken in the second season. Francis can be seen next to a civil war actor who slipped into the role of Francis' great, great, great grandfather at that event. Ultimately, Dunbar missed the nomination after meeting Lucas Goodwin and reporting this meeting to the Attorney General, who initially did not inform the FBI.

Will Conway

Joel Kinnaman plays Will Conway

Will Conway is New York Governor and Republican candidate for the 2016 presidential election.

As a former soldier with a weakness for the intensive use of new media, with which he stages a large part of his family life, he is considered the favorite for the presidency in opinion polls. He is married to Hannah Conway from Great Britain and has a son, Charlie, and a daughter, Lilly, with her. He represents typical republican views and speaks out against regulatory intervention by the government, for lower taxes and more freedom. However, his campaign with the Pollyhop search engine caused a stir, as it manipulated search queries in his favor and also provided his election campaign team with voter data. Ultimately, he justifies this with his desire to learn more about the voters. In return, he publishes all of his past and future emails, text messages, photos, and videos.

Minor characters

• Linda Vasquez is President Garrett Walker's chief of staff before stepping down during the second season. With Francis, who got her the post in the White House, she works closely together at times, so that over time she develops an inkling of his machinations. In the second season she meets Frank increasingly controversial and leaves the White House after a difference of opinion.
• Christina Gallagher initially heads the office of Congressman Peter Russo and is also his girlfriend. After his death, she worked as the personal assistant to President Garrett Walker. However, Christina loses her job after the president's wife, Tricia Walker, expresses her discomfort. This was deliberately initiated by Claire Underwood by recommending that Christina should offer herself more to the presidential couple, which was rejected by Tricia.
• Lucas Goodwin initially works as a reporter for the Washington Herald . Together with Janine and Zoe, with whom he later also has a relationship, he wants to uncover Underwood's machinations. He hires the hacker Gavin Orsay to prove Frank's involvement in Zoe's death. The great risk is his undoing, so that he is charged with cyber terrorism and imprisoned in the second season. At the beginning of the fourth season he gets a place in the witness protection program and after his release contacts the presidential candidate Heather Dunbar to tell her about his theories. After she refused, Lucas carried out an attack on Underwood at a campaign rally. During the assassination he meets Francis, who then needs a liver transplant, and kills his bodyguard Edward Meechum. This can hit Lucas with a bullet, whereupon Lucas also dies. His theories were made public after his death through a letter, but were dismissed by the White House in the person of Claire as the work of a mentally ill man.

Boris McGiver plays Tom Hammerschmidt

• Tom Hammerschmidt is initially editor-in-chief of the Washington Herald and the supervisor of Zoe, Janine and Lucas. After Margaret Tilden, the owner of the newspaper, has spoken out in favor of Zoe, whom he had previously fired, Hammerschmidt loses his job. In the second season he wrote an article on behalf of Lucas about Francis' deeds including the murders of Peter and Zoe. Lucas refuses to publish it. In the fourth season, Tom begins his research again after Lucas' death and comes across a lead by chance in Zoe's former residential area. Again, he does not rely on the murders, but on what went on in the money laundering affair, which resulted in President Garrett Walker's resignation. Hammerschmidt gets Jackie, Remy and former President Garrett Walker to testify against Underwood and publishes his article at the end of the season.
• Janine Skorsky initially works as a reporter for the Washington Herald and later moves to Slugline . After initial difficulties, she befriends Zoe and later helps her try to uncover Underwood's machinations. After Zoe's death, she receives death threats and flees the city to take care of her mother and work as a lecturer. Because of the events surrounding Zoe's murder, she becomes addicted to tablets.
• Remy Danton started out as a lobbyist for the SanCorp company , having previously served as Francis' press secretary for eight years. In the second season he is on behalf of Raymond Tusk to identify vulnerabilities in the Underwoods, before he serves Francis as chief of staff in the third season. After an argument between Francis and Jackie that he has romantic feelings for, Remy resigns from his post. As part of Hammerschmidt's research, he incriminated Francis in the fourth season in an article.
• Gillian Cole is recruited by Claire for the CWI charity. Due to her personal convictions, she previously turned down a financially lucrative job offer from Google. After being hired, the best of the year at Stanford University initially turned out to be a profit, until she was finally beaten up and fired with Claire as part of a cooperation with SanCorp. After threatening Claire with a lawsuit, she is given the opportunity to replace Claire as organization leader, which is why she drops the lawsuit.

Rachel Brosnahan plays Rachel Posner

• Rachel Posner started out as a prostitute and was in the passenger seat of Peter Russo's drunk driving. After being tracked down by Doug and being hushed up, she becomes increasingly a victim of Doug's control obligations. So she is hired to induce Russo to consume alcohol before a radio interview. In the last episode of the second season, she seriously injures Doug with a stone in the head and then escapes to New Mexico to start a new life under the name Cassie Lockhart . At the end of the third season, she is located by Doug, murdered and buried in a deserted desert.
• Edward Meechum serves Francis as a bodyguard. After he fired his gun in public and was given a leave of absence for this reason, Francis gave him a second chance and from that moment turned out to be one of Frank's closest confidants. He is one of the few people Frank shows sympathy for, which ultimately leads to a night together between him and the Underwoods. During the assassination attempt on Francis, he is hit by Lucas Goodwin and dies.
• Jim Matthews first serves as Vice President under President Walker. Matthews, who was previously governor of Pennsylvania and is now dissatisfied with his new role as vice president, supports Russo in the first season in the governor election campaign. After his death, he is persuaded by Francis at the end of the first season to replace Russo and run himself as a candidate.
• Bob Birch is a Michigan Democratic Congressman and the Speaker of the US House of Representatives .
• Adam Galloway is a New York based photographer who is friends with Claire. In the first season he is visited by Claire, who stays with him for a few nights. Both love one another; Ultimately, however, Claire returns to Francis. In season two, Galloway is caught between the front lines after Raymond Tusk posted a picture of Claire that Galloway took in season one.

Jayne Atkinson plays Catherine Durant

• Catherine Durant is initially a Senator for the state of Louisiana . At the beginning of the first season she becomes Secretary of State after she has been brought into the position by Francis and the presidential favorite candidate Michael Kern has had to retire. From that moment on she is one of the supporters of the Underwoods and especially of Francis, for whom she paves the way to the presidency through some actions. In the fourth season, the relationship breaks after Francis, despite prior agreements, has not made her a runner-up candidate.
• Jackie Sharp is a California Democratic Congresswoman who succeeds Frank as Majority Whip of the US House of Representatives. With the beginning of Underwood's presidency, she fills the position of "Assistant Majority Whip" before she bears the title of "Assistant Minority Whip" after the lost mid-term elections . In the third season, she runs for president, but withdraws from the election campaign after a television debate and publicly opposes Frank. Jackie is an ambitious politician who previously served the United States in the Iraq war . Having seized the unexpected chance at a greater position of power, she is quickly respected by her male and far more experienced colleagues because of her military past. Frank values ​​her “merciless pragmatism”, which she demonstrated in the war by killing numerous civilians, including women and children.
• Gavin Orsay denies his life as a hacker and informant who reluctantly serves the FBI . His compassion for imprisoned and hacker friends prevents him from wanting to flee and lead a life of his own. He escapes to Venezuela in the third season with the support of Doug and is tracked down by him in the season finale so that he can reveal information about Rachel's whereabouts.
• Connor Ellis is a media consultant responsible for public relations for Vice President Francis Underwood and his wife Claire. However, resigns from office because of differences with Seth Grayson.
• Seth Grayson rises as a private investigator to become Vice President Underwood's press secretary after initially working on behalf of Remy Danton and Raymond Tusk. Seth ultimately decides to work for Underwood. Despite his personal feuds with Doug, his unconventional methods prove useful to the Underwoods. In season four, he toying with a job offer from Heather Dunbar and leaking harmful information, straining his relationship with Doug.
• Viktor Petrov faces Frank as President of Russia in the dispute over the Jordan Valley. He shows himself to be an equal and just as cold strategist as Underwood. His character shares some similarities with the real life Russian President Vladimir Putin .
• Kate Baldwin reports from the White House for the Wall Street Telegraph . She meets the novelist Thomas Yates and starts a relationship with him. This ends at the end of the third season because she does not want to support him with the publication of the book excerpt.
• Thomas Yates is a successful novelist, best known for the book Scorpio . He is hired by Frank to write a book about his America Works job program . He receives exclusive insights into the marriage of the Underwoods and develops a close relationship with Frank and Claire. At the end of the third season, his book excerpt is rejected by Frank, which initially ends his engagement. In the fourth season he works as a speechwriter for the Underwoods. During the campaign, he and Claire develop feelings for one another and begin an intimate relationship that Francis respects.

Neve Campbell plays LeAnn Harvey

• LeAnn Harvey is a Texas political advisor and campaign manager. After initially helping Claire with her political ambitions, she later leads Francis' presidential campaign.
• Hannah Conway is the wife of Will Conway, the Republican presidential candidate.
• Elizabeth Hale is Claire's mother. She lives on a farm in Texas and suffers from lymph gland cancer , which Claire initially does not know about. She has an aversion to Francis and is reluctant to support her daughter in her political career. Because her condition worsens over the course of the fourth season, Claire ultimately supports her in her demise.
• Aidan Macallan is a data researcher friend of LeAnn Harvey who spies on the American people on behalf of Francis Underwood.
• Sean Jeffries is an editor at the Washington Herald and is hired by Tom Hammerschmidt to uncover the machinations of Francis Underwood.
• Alex Romero is a Democratic Congressman from Arizona . He is investigating the criminal activities of Francis Underwood on a congressional committee at the request of Will Conway.
• Mark Usher is a political advisor and is helping Will Conway run for president.
• Jane Davis is an employee of the Department of Commerce. As Under Secretary of Commerce for International Trade, she has numerous contacts in the private sector.

Cast and dubbing

The German synchronization occurs after the dialogue books by Oliver Blanck (Season 1), Jörg Hartung (Season 1), Matthias Lange (seasons 2 and 3) and Kathrin Gaube (seasons 2 and 3) and under the dialogue director of Inez Günther by the synchronous company Scalamedia GmbH in Berlin .

The table lists the actors, their role names, the total number of episodes with appearances in the main, supporting and guest roles, and their German voice actors.

actor	role	Season						Episodes	German voice actor
		1	2	3	4th	5	6th
Kevin Spacey	Francis Underwood	13	13	13	13	13	-	65	Till Hagen
Robin Wright	Claire Hale / Underwood	13	13	13	13	13	08	73	Irina von Bentheim
Michael Kelly	Doug Stamper	13	12	13	13	13	08	72	Peter Flechtner
Kate Mara	Zoe Barnes	12	01	-	01	-	-	14th	Manja Doering
Corey Stoll	Peter Russo	11	-	-	01	-	-	12	Jaron Lowenberg
Sakina Jaffrey	Linda Vasquez	11	07	-	-	-	01	19th	Franziska Pigulla
Kristen Connolly	Christina Gallagher	13	04	-	-		-	17th	Dascha Lehmann
Sebastian Arcelus	Lucas Goodwin	08	06	-	03	-	-	17th	Jan Makino
Boris McGiver	Tom Hammerschmidt	05	02	-	07	11	05	30th	Peter Reinhardt
Constance room	Janine Skorsky	09	03	-	01	-	06	19th	Victoria Storm
Mahershala Ali	Remy Danton	07	09	11	06	-	-	33	Peter Lontzek
Sandrine Holt	Gillian Cole	09	01	-	-	-	-	10	Debora refuses
Michel Gill	Garrett Walker	09	12	-	02	01	-	24	Frank Röth
Gerald McRaney	Raymond Tusk	02	11	-	02	01	-	16	Dieter Memel
Nathan Darrow	Edward Meechum	10	11	11	03	-	-	35	Arne Stephan
Dan Ziskie	Jim Matthews	04	-	-	-	02	-	06	Bodo Wolf
Larry Pine	Bob Birch	06	05	04	03	05	-	23	Kaspar Eichel
Ben Daniels	Adam Galloway	06	01	-	-	-	-	07	Detlef Bierstedt
Jayne Atkinson	Catherine Durant	03	07	04	09	11	04	38	Katharina Lopinski
Rachel Brosnahan	Rachel Posner	07	08	04	-	-	-	19th	Peggy Pollow
Reg E. Cathey	Freddy Hayes	07	04	03	01	-	-	15th	Axel Lutter
Molly Parker	Jackie Sharp	-	11	09	05	-	-	25th	Gundi Eberhard
Jimmi Simpson	Gavin Orsay	-	08	09	-	-	-	17th	Marcel Collé
Derek Cecil	Seth Grayson	-	09	11	10	12	08	50	Karlo Hackenberger
Mozhan Marnò	Ayla Sayyad	-	08th	03	-	-	-	11	Christin Marquitan
Elizabeth Marvel	Heather Dunbar	-	03	12	08	-	-	23	Andrea Solter
Kate Lyn Sheil	Lisa Williams	-	06	03	03	02	-	14th	Millie Forsberg
Malcolm Madera	Eric Rawlings	-	01	-	01	06	-	08	Matti Klemm
Lars Mikkelsen	Viktor Petrov	-	-	04	03	03	03	13	Bernd Vollbrecht
Kim Dickens	Kate Baldwin	-	-	06	02	01	-	09	Katrin Zimmermann
Paul Sparks	Thomas Yates	-	-	09	06	12	01	28	Stefan Gossler
Neve Campbell	LeAnn Harvey	-	-	-	13	12	-	25th	Marie Bierstedt
Reed Birney	Donald Blythe	02	02	06	04	04	-	18th	Frank-Otto Schenk
Joel Kinnaman	Will Conway	-	-	-	08	07	-	15th	Dennis Schmidt-Foss
Dominique McElligott	Hannah Conway	-	-	-	08	07	-	15th	Wicki Kalaitzi
Ellen Burstyn	Elizabeth Hale	-	-	-	05	-	-	05	Doris Gallart
Damian Young	Aidan Macallan	-	-	-	07	08	-	15th	Matthias Rimpler
Colm Feore	Ted Brockhart	-	-	-	05	07	-	12	Udo Schenk
Korey Jackson	Sean Jeffries	-	-	-	-	13	-	13	Marios Gavrilis
James Martinez	Alex Romero	-	-	-	-	09	-	09	Nico Sablik
Campbell Scott	Mark Usher	-	-	-	-	11	08	19th	Joachim Tennstedt
Patricia Clarkson	Jane Davis	-	-	-	-	07	04	11	Liane Rudolph
Greg Kinnear	Bill Shepherd	-	-	-	-	-	08	08	Uwe Büschken
Diane Lane	Annette Shepherd	-	-	-	-	-	08	08	Arianne Borbach

Producer and Director David Fincher

Any main cast actor was the first choice, according to Fincher. At the first reading , he said, "I want each and every one of you to know that you are the first choice - you are the first choice for these characters. So don't screw it up."

Leading actor Kevin Spacey, who made his last appearance in a television series between 1987 and 1990 in the series Wiseguy , was the first choice for the casting of the main character of Francis Underwood from the start. Producer Fincher and Spacey worked together on the film Sieben and could therefore look back on a long relationship. When Spacey was presented with the script, he was immediately able to establish a connection with the story, which was a source of great relief for the producers, as the series wouldn't be the same without Spacey at the center of it all. Spacey played the role of Richard III. at the Old Vic Theater , which Fincher called "great workout". In addition, Spacey supported the publication of all episodes at the same time, because he believed that the releases of television series would develop in this direction in more and more cases in the future. Spacey said, "When I ask my friends what they did over the weekend, they tell me they've seen three seasons of Breaking Bad , or the previous two seasons of Game of Thrones ." He was officially cast in March 2011.

Robin Wright was contacted by Fincher while they were working on the film The Delusion together. In June 2011 she was cast in the second leading role of Claire Underwood. Fincher arranged to meet her for coffee and told her, who was not convinced by the medium of television, about the series, which had a "great story" with a "great figure" and, in his opinion, was actually not a television series. According to his own account, Fincher asked her begging if she would bless the production team with her presence. Wright says he didn't watch the BBC's original series because it wasn't meant to be influencing it. In any case, a study of the character Elizabeth Urquhart was not necessary, since the character of Claire, according to Fincher, was much larger. The figure is also not based on a personality. Instead, she was inspired by the bald eagle , which she studied via YouTube and which subsequently transferred its convinced, gentle and equally cunning hunting behavior to Claire.

Kate Mara auditioned for the role of Zoe Barnes in February 2012. Her sister Rooney worked with Fincher on the film The Delusion ; Kate Mara read the relevant lines in the script, "fell in love with the character" and asked her sister to put in a good word for her at Fincher. The following month she got the call and was invited to audition. In the spring of 2012, Corey Stoll received the role of Congressman Peter Russo. Michel Gill as President Walker and Constance Zimmer as journalist Janine Skorsky were cast in March 2012. In an interview, Jayne Atkinson , who got the role of Catherine Durant, described the lengthy casting process in more detail. Initially, none of those responsible knew about her marriage to Michel Gill, who would later be given the role of president. Her husband also auditioned not only for his later role, but also for the role of foreign minister, which was given to his wife a few months later. Sebastian Arcelus landed the role of journalist Lucas Goodwin in the summer of the same year.

For the second season, Molly Parker as Jacqueline Sharp and Samuel Page as Connor Ellis were signed in May 2013 . On October 13, 2014, Elizabeth Norment passed away , who played the role of Frank Underwood's secretary Nancy Kaufberger until the end of the second season. In the summer of 2015 it was announced that Neve Campbell was joining the regular cast in the fourth season. The same applies to Colm Feore , whose contribution became public in September 2015. In February 2016, Netflix announced via Twitter that Joel Kinnaman was joining the cast.

The series makers also hired new actors for the fifth season. In October 2016 it was announced that Patricia Clarkson and Campbell Scott would join the main cast.

On November 4, 2017, it was announced that Netflix was completely separating from Kevin Spacey as the lead actor due to harassment allegations. The sixth season is to be shot and produced without him.

In the course of the series, real personalities from the US media landscape also appeared in a cameo . These include John King (1x02, 3x11, 4x10), George Stephanopoulos (episode 1x02, 3x11), Rachel Maddow (2x02, 2x10), Wolf Blitzer (4x04, 4x10), Soledad O'Brien (1x03), Dennis Miller ( 1x06), Bill Maher (1x06), Ashleigh Banfield (2x04), Chris Matthews (2x10), Sean Hannity (2x10), Chris Hayes (2x12), Morley Safer (2x13), Stephen Colbert (3x01) and Dana Bash (3x02) .

History of origin

Conception

Showrunner up to the fourth season: Beau Willimon

The independent studio Media Rights Capital acquired the rights to House of Cards with the intention of creating a series from it. While the production of the film The Curious Case of Benjamin Button drew to a close, was David Fincher of his agent BBC - Miniseries A house of cards presented. Fincher was interested in producing an adaptation with Eric Roth . As he said at the time, he was interested in a television production because of the long-term nature. He also added that unlike series characters, characters in films do not allow complex characterizations. “As I have felt over the past decade, the best scripts for actors have been on television. So I kept my eyes open for something more long-term, ”Fincher said.

“Tuesday evening, 7:30 pm - that was once upon a time. The heart of this tradition was impaled, the head severed and the mouth stuffed with garlic. The audience forced by television no longer exists. If you give people the opportunity to binge watch, you are not wrong to believe that they will use it. "

- David Fincher

MRC contacted a number of cable networks, including HBO , Showtime and AMC . Netflix , however, built on the start of its own series and outbid other interested parties. Netflix's chief programming officer, Ted Sarandos , evaluated the viewing habits of Netflix users and concluded that there was a large audience for Fincher and Spacey. "It looked very promising," he said, "the perfect combination of substance and talent." When searching for an author, Fincher assumed that he could depict a "credible version of parliamentary politics in Washington". Was hired Beau Willimon , the politicians Charles Schumer , Howard Dean and Hillary Clinton served as helpers and in early 2011 to complete that script of the pilot episode. Willimon, who was first associated with the original series in spring 2010, immediately fell in love with the original and had numerous ideas on how to make the series contemporary and adapt it to American culture. He saw the opportunity to create a completely new series from the original BBC template and also to deepen the overall story.

“Streaming is the future. Television won't be today's television in five years ... everyone will stream. "

- Beau Willimon

In March 2011, the project with Kevin Spacey as actor and executive producer was announced. It was also announced that Fincher would direct the first two episodes and that the script for those episodes would be penned by Willimon. Netflix directly ordered two seasons, consisting of a total of 26 episodes. Spacey described Netflix's simultaneous-release model as a "new way of looking at it." He added that Netflix's commitment to two full seasons gave the series greater continuity. "We know exactly where we're going," said Spacey. In a speech at the Edinburgh International Television Festival, he also noted the request of other cable stations that - with the exception of Netflix - claimed a pilot episode . Netflix relied only on its statistics and ordered the entire series directly.

There are various statements about the costs of the first two seasons. Peter Micelli, an agent for artist agency CAA , estimated the initial cost per episode to be $ 4.5 million. However, due to director and producer David Fincher, the production costs went well beyond this value. Producer Kevin Spacey did not want to confirm or deny reports from various media that assumed a total of 100 million US dollars for the first two seasons.

script

When the producers signed the partnership with Netflix, filming was initially not possible because lead actor Kevin Spacey was on a world tour of the play Richard III. presented. So Willimon and his team decided to write the scripts for the entire first season before filming began. Willimon hired several scriptwriters and organized a three-story house in Venice, California . He lived on the top floor while the script was written on the first floor. After seven months, the writing team had finished the scripts for the thirteen episodes of the first season, so that the storyline of the season was worked out before filming.

However, Willimon also made changes to the script during filming, so that some storylines were completely removed or revised. The characters Peter Russo and Rachel Posner and their storylines were revised during the shooting. Russo, played by Corey Stoll , was always planned as an important character according to Willimon and his demise was also planned for the eleventh episode, but he was never to run for governor . This storyline, which was initially intended for a different character, was carried over to Russo after he had even exceeded the originally high expectations during the filming. Willimon wanted to stage Stoll as often as possible so that he got more scenes with main actor Kevin Spacey and his main character Francis Underwood, which deepened the relationship between the two characters and highlighted the crash of Russo.

The character of Rachel Posner, played by Rachel Brosnahan , was " nothing more than a call girl in the first few episodes". It didn't even have a name, as can be seen in the credits, and no return was planned. However, as part of his reflections on Peter Russo, Willimon wondered how Russo's crash could be dramatized and came back to Rachel, who the viewer would already know from the first episode and who was then further developed by the authors. As with Russo, the talent of the actress played an important role with Rachel, so that the character aroused interest and also increasingly influenced the stories of other characters, which according to Willimon "improved enormously" the first season.

Before the production of a new season, the authors develop a so-called show bible , a 50 to 60 page long document that summarizes the characters and developments of a season. The development of this document begins with a blackboard and approximately thirteen columns for the respective episodes. A decision is made over a period of six weeks about what happens to a character and the plot. This is ultimately recorded in the show bible , which the writing team refers to when writing each episode of a season.

Filming

season 1

Filming for season one began in Spring 2012 in Harford County , Maryland, on the east coast of the United States .

The exterior scenes were filmed primarily in the city ​​of Baltimore , Maryland, about 25 miles from Washington, DC . The numerous outdoor scenes filmed in Baltimore intended to portray Washington, DC include the Underwoods residence ( location ), Zoe Barnes apartment ( location ), Freddy's BBQ Joint ( location ), the Clean Water Initiative building ( location ), the Hotel Cotesworth from the episode The Fundraising Gala ( location ) and the Opera House from the episode The Game Begins ( location ). The same applies to the offices of the Washington Herald, the Georgetown Hotel and several restaurants, including Werner's Bar, Tio Pepe's and the Bar DuPont Circle . Many of the scenes set outside of Washington were also shot in Baltimore. These include scenes for Peter Russo's election campaign tour in Pennsylvania and the fictional military academy The Sentinel in South Carolina .

Much of the interior was filmed in a warehouse in Joppa , Maryland . On a space of 5 acres, the equivalent of just over two hectares or the size of a soccer field, the premises of the Congress and the White House were recreated. This is also the case with the Oval Office , which has been reconstructed to scale. The rug in the Oval Office with the seal of the United States was produced by the company that made the rug for the real Oval Office. A house in Baltimore served as a template for the Underwoods residence. This was true to scale, but the exterior scenes were shot in front of that house in Baltimore. However, there was a separate set for each of the three floors, so that there was no direct spatial connection between the floors. In addition, an agreement was reached with the Baltimore Sun on filming in the offices of the daily newspaper in Baltimore. This is where the offices of the fictional daily Washington Herald find their place in the series.

season 2

Filming for the second season began at the end of April 2013 and ended in November 2013. In the second season, too, many outdoor scenes were filmed in Baltimore. The Charles Center station of the Baltimore Metro was responsible for the Cathedral Heights underground station from the first episode . The final episode was filmed at Camp Puh'Tok in Munkton, Maryland to capture the President's recreational area, Camp David . The site of the Ladew Topiary Gardens, also located in Munkton, served as the setting for the Chinese capital Beijing in the seventh episode . As part of the shooting, some changes were made to give the facility an Asian feel. The Maryland House of Representatives was also used as a filming location for two episodes of the second season. The fifth episode was also filmed in Patapsco Valley State Park . The park served as the site of the civil war celebrations.

Season 5

For the filming of the fifth season, actors for smaller roles were sought in late June and July 2016. Filming also took place in Baltimore, Maryland. The following week filming took place at an abandoned gas station in Churchville , Maryland. In an interview in August 2016, Michael Kelly said that the first two episodes of the fifth season were being shot in a row. Also in August, Joel Kinnaman reported on various social networks about his first impressions of the script for the third episode.

Tax breaks

According to the Maryland Film Office , the state of Maryland granted production company Media Rights Capital millions in tax credits to subsidize a portion of the cost of production .

• For the first season, credits totaling $ 11.6 million were waived. The total cost of production was $ 63 million. More than 1,600 companies and 2,200 Maryland citizens were involved in the filming. This generated revenue of $ 138 million for the state.
• For season two, the state of Maryland waived $ 15 million in credits, while production costs totaled $ 55 million. Nearly 2,000 companies and more than 3,700 people were involved in the filming, generating revenue of $ 120 million for the economy.
• Before the production of the third season, the production company expressed a letter of intention to film again in Maryland. She estimated the cost and impact on the economy to be similar to that of the second season. Accordingly, the series would be "eligible for tax breaks of up to $ 15 million".

marketing

Season 4

The release date for the fourth season was made public by Netflix through a commercial that aired on December 15, 2015 during a television debate by Republicans as part of the real US presidential campaign . At the same time, Netflix made the website fu2016.com public, which is based on the campaign pages of the real presidential candidates. Visitors can download campaign stickers and posters and create a modified profile picture for social networks. You can also find the latest trailers for the season on the site. The official trailer was released in February 2016 and follows on from the marital problems between Francis and Claire, which became apparent in the third season. Also in February 2016, Netflix organized a campaign booth in Greenville, South Carolina , very near Underwood's hometown of Gaffney . Fans of the series could get hold of stickers and t-shirts at the stand.

In the run-up to the fourth season, the British artist Jonathan Yeo created a painting of the main actor Kevin Spacey in his role as Francis Underwood. The picture has been on display for 18 months since February 2016 in the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery , in whose Hall of Presidents also portraits of real presidents can be found. A Netflix-style video released by Netflix shows Underwood passing the paintings of some past presidents in the halls of the White House. The approximately three-minute clip shows the portraits of Abraham Lincoln , George Washington , Dwight D. Eisenhower , George HW Bush and Ronald Reagan . Afterwards, Underwood's journey to the event and the unveiling of the painting can be seen.

The fourth season will be advertised in advance on the Washington Metro for a period of approximately four weeks . A total of 245 advertising products can be found in the Washington, DC subway system: 45 posters are distributed over the individual stations of the city, while another 200 posters are placed in the subways. The motifs of the posters are based on a scene from the second season of the series playing in a subway station, in which the main character, Vice President-elect Francis Underwood, pushes reporter Zoe Barnes in front of an incoming subway train. For example, the sentence A push in the right direction is written on a poster , which translates as one push in the right direction .

publication

Television broadcast

See also : House of Cards episode list

Broadcast on free TV

ProSiebenSat.1 Media holds the rights to German free TV . The broadcast of the first season began on November 6, 2013 on ProSieben Maxx . Including the first episode, two episodes were broadcast in the original English version with German subtitles every Wednesday evening. However, the market share in the advertising-relevant target group of 14 to 49 year olds never exceeded 0.4%. The broadcast on Sat.1 began on November 10, 2013. It was planned to broadcast an episode every Sunday evening after 11 p.m. The first episode gave the station a market share of 6.8%. The average for the first four episodes was less than 7.5%. On December 6th, between the broadcast of the fourth and fifth episode, Sat.1 decided to shorten the broadcast of the season. While episodes 5, 6 and 7 were still on schedule, the remaining six episodes were broadcast on December 29th. These ran in one piece, so that the season finale was presented early Monday morning. The original slot in the New Year on late Sunday evening was taken by reruns of the Criminal Minds series . In Austria, the series was broadcast in two channels on ORF Eins from November 10, 2013 on Sundays after 11 p.m. In Switzerland, SRF 1 showed the series in two-channel sound from November 11, 2013, every Monday before midnight.

The second season was broadcast in Germany on September 5 and 6, 2014 on ProSieben Maxx as a binge-watching event. The third season was broadcast from September 21 to 24, 2015 from shortly after 10 p.m. on ProSieben Maxx. There the series achieved a market share of 1.8 percent in the advertising-relevant target group of 14 to 49 year olds. With an average of 0.9 percent and 40,000 viewers in this target group, the series was 0.2 percent below the broadcaster average. The fourth season was broadcast again from October 31, 2016 as event programming within four days on ProSieben Maxx.

In Austria, the third season was broadcast every Monday from September 28, 2015 on the ORF eins channel. The broadcast shortly before midnight was justified by the broadcaster with the permanently restricted target group that could generate the detailed representation of political events. Another reason given was the "very in-depth US domestic policy" action. The first episode of the third season achieved a market share of 5 percent and a reach of 35,000 viewers. The broadcast of the second episode increased despite the same broadcast time at 11:45 p.m. and was seen by a total of 57,000 viewers. This made up a market share of 7 percent.

Broadcast on pay TV

For Germany, which has pay TV transmitters Sky Atlantic secured the broadcast rights. Accordingly, the exclusive broadcasting rights on all platforms for each season for six months are exclusively with Sky. The first season was broadcast between February 4 and April 29, 2013.

The third season aired Sky Atlantic HD between March 13 and June 5, 2015. The broadcast of the first episode was attended by a total of 20,000 viewers, which corresponds to a market share of 0.1 percent. Half of the audience was reached in the target group of 14 to 49 year olds. The publication via the online media library Sky Go , which took place at the same time as the global release on February 28, 2015, recorded around 17,000 views on the first day alone. This marked a new record within the broadcaster.

The episodes of the fourth season were also broadcast weekly starting on March 4, 2016 and optionally in the original English version as well as in the German dubbed version on Sky Atlantic HD. As with the previous seasons, the entire season was available from March 4th on various Sky platforms in the original English language, including in the online media library Sky Go. One day after the first broadcast on Sky, the new episodes of the fourth season were also available on Amazon Prime.

Sky also holds the rights to the fifth season. The first episode was first broadcast on May 30, 2017 on Sky Atlantic HD. Starting with that date, two new episodes were broadcast every Tuesday evening. Compared to the previous seasons, Sky made a change when publishing the season in its online media library Sky Go. On May 30th, all episodes were available either in the original English language or with German synchronization. In the previous seasons, Sky released the German dubbed versions at the same time as the first broadcast on Sky Atlantic HD. The sixth season will again be broadcast in double episodes on Sky Atlantic HD, but the entire season was published online in German and English on November 2, 2018.

DVD / Blu-ray distribution

The series has been distributed in Germany on DVD and Blu-ray since December 2013 . After the first season had been sold without the usual extras, the release of the second season provided bonus material in the form of short clips, the length of which varies between 4 and 18 minutes. The background and motifs of the series, the direct address to the viewer, the implementation of the British original, the script of the series and the production of an episode are illuminated.

country	season 1	season 2	season 3	Season 4	Season 5
United States	11th of June 2013	17th June 2014	July 7, 2015	5th july 2016	3rd October 2017
Great Britain	June 10, 2013	June 16, 2014	June 29, 2015	4th july 2016	2nd October 2017
Germany	17th December 2013	4th September 2014	October 1, 2015	September 8, 2016	5th October 2017

Other forms of publication

Soundtrack

On April 5, 2013, the soundtrack of the first season, composed by Jeff Beal , was released in Germany . The second season soundtrack, also composed by Jeff Beal, was released on June 27, 2014.

The digital release of the soundtrack for the third season took place on September 11, 2015, while the CD release is planned for October 2, 2015. According to composer Jeff Beal, "the vigorous America Works storylines and the Middle East talks with Russian President Petrov had their own sound." Beal also said the season was extremely important to Frank and Claire's marriage. The story arc of the season and thus also the crumbling trust between the Underwoods would have needed a separate mouthpiece in the soundtrack. According to Beal, he expanded the use of operatic sopranos for the third season soundtrack: "Somehow, it seemed like this was going to be a great sound for Claire's burgeoning power and strength." used.

Online availability

In Germany, the SVoD provider Netflix offers the series on its platform. New seasons are published there after six months, as Sky Deutschland has the broadcasting rights for this period. The third season, which was released in February 2015, was added to Netflix's program in August 2015.

With the Amazon Instant Video , Maxdome and iTunes Store services, individual episodes or entire seasons can be borrowed for a limited period of time or purchased for an unlimited period, depending on the service.

reception

Reviews

House of Cards was already well received in the run-up to the broadcast. The first season reached 86% on Rotten Tomatoes , the second season received 88% positive approval, the third season 78% and the fourth season reached 88%. At Metacritic , the first, third and fourth season achieved a score of 76, the second season achieved the best rating with 80 points. For the first season, the critical consensus at Rotten Tomatoes was: "Lined with convincing performances from the actors - especially by Kevin Spacey - and reliable direction, House of Cards is a sophisticated and captivating drama that may redefine television production."

In Germany, too, the critics were largely positive. Michael Hanfeld praised the character of Frank Underwood in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (2013), who is played by Kevin Spacey with "diabolical fervor". The fact that Underwood turns the audience into accomplices through his direct address gives the story “bad joke” as well as “irony, speed and strength”. Hanfeld described the dialogues as "razor sharp", the overall concept of the series as "cinema and theater on television in one". In Tagesspiegel (2013), Joachim Huber described Kevin Spacey's play as a “great pleasure” and the accompanying role of Francis Underwood as “fabulous”. Jürgen Schmieder criticized the continuation of the series after the end of the second season in the Süddeutsche Zeitung (2015). The story should have ended when US President Underwood "looks triumphantly into the camera and knocks the ring twice on the table".

Ed Power from the Daily Telegraph (2016) praised the fourth season in a pre-review and gave it four out of five possible stars. Showrunner Beau Willimon managed to get Frank Underwood to act on the defensive again, which Power calls the "lucky charm" of the series. Kevin Spacey's passionate embodiment of the male protagonist, who, according to Power, acts as the "evil force of nature", is getting better and better. In addition, Robin Wright was "never better" in her role as Claire. The new character of the strategist Leann Harvey, played by Neve Campbell , describes Power as "ruthless" and "useful contrasting figure ". Followers of the series would surely enjoy every dark moment of the overall "triumphant return".

Even before the release of the fifth season, the media dealt with the series. The series was compared in advance with the real political conditions under the real US President Donald Trump , who was introduced into office four months before the season was published. CNN headlined that the series would be more dedicated to the pursuit of power. So it is about topics like the negative side of partiality and the influence of dark money. Author Brian Lowry criticizes, however, that the election campaign takes up too much of the season. The magnificent performances of the main actors Kevin Spacey and Robin Wright contributed to the fact that the series was still very worth seeing. The season finale also has a "reasonably attractive and fruitful scenario" ready for the subsequent action.

Reactions from politics

With Barack Obama and Bill Clinton , two US presidents have made public statements on the series. When asked if the series accurately portrayed politics in the capital, Clinton told lead actor Kevin Spacey:

“99 percent of House of Cards agree with reality. But it is impossible to pass an education law that quickly. "

- Bill Clinton

At a meeting with CEOs of large corporations in December 2013, Barack Obama expressed his admiration for the main character: "This guy really gets a lot sorted out!" Would go on stage. Republican Kevin McCarthy , who was Underwood's Majority Whip position in the House at the time of his testimony, said in August 2013:

“Underwood is portrayed as having all the false attributes one hears about Washington. He literally kills a member of Congress. If I could kill just one MP, I would never have to worry about voting again. "

- Kevin McCarthy :

The day before the release of the second season, Obama announced on Twitter that he would watch the series the next day. In the same tweet, he also asked his followers not to spoil the course of the season. In March 2014, Obama stated that life in Washington was "a little more boring" than depicted in the series. In April 2015, as part of an April Fool's joke , Obama attempted an Underwood imitation by turning his head into the camera and saying, “Hello everyone! This is not Frank Underwood speaking; this is Barack Obama speaking. Happy April 1st. Frank learned that from me. "

For the MP Thomas Massie , the realism of the series is "amazing": "The furniture, the phones, the curtains, the scandals, the negotiations in the back rooms ... it is all based on reality." The only big difference is Underwood, the In contrast to his real role models in Congress, I have “a plan”. The Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull sees Underwood as "a modern Iago ", as he admitted in allusion to the Shakespeare tragedy Othello . House of Cards , unlike the Danish series Borgen, is not a political drama, but a melodrama that deals more extensively with internal conflicts and less with day-to-day politics. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau also commented on the series. In the podcast The West Wing Weekly to series The West Wing - The West Wing Trudeau said that he loved the work of Kevin Spacey and this is absolutely great. The political events in Washington of the series are too gloomy for him to regularly see an episode.

The lobbyist Rina Shah, who works in Washington, DC , stated in the Süddeutsche Zeitung (2015) that the series was “very close” to real political events. Among other things, the close relationship between politicians and the press is "very well presented". However, decisions are made faster and overall the series looks "much more glamorous" than its real role model. The series also met with reactions in German politics. House of Cards is Jürgen Trittin's favorite series, who describes the series as the counterpart of the talk show culture that is particularly prevalent in Germany. In addition, it is shown "to some extent realistically". Trittin sees parallels to reality in particular in the interplay between politics and the media, which actually provides a “powerful relationship between politician and journalist”. Various members of the Bundestag also commented on the series. MEP Nicole Gohlke explained that one could learn from Underwood the “complete political dispassion”, but this was not realistic due to my own experience with politicians.

Other reactions

Agnieszka Holland , who directed two episodes of the third season, drew a comparison with the political series The West Wing , which aired between 1999 and 2006. She noted that while the characters in the Aaron Sorkin- created series also make mistakes and are corrupted, they are not as cynical as the politicians in House of Cards . Francis Underwood paved the way for the controversial Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, which is why Holland called the series a "dangerous creation".

Awards and nominations

Emmys

Season	1	2	3	4th	5	total
Nominations	9	13	11	13	7th	53
Awards	3	1	2	0	open	6th

Primetime Emmy Awards

House of Cards is the first series to be broadcast exclusively via a streaming service in the United States to be nominated for an Emmy in the main Outstanding Drama Series category. Four more nominations followed in this category. A total of 53 Emmy nominations are matched by 6 awards. For each of the previous five seasons, Kevin Spacey has been nominated for Best Actor. This was also achieved by Robin Wright , who also received five nominations for best leading actress. Michael Kelly was nominated 3 times for Best Supporting Actor, while Kate Mara , Rachel Brosnahan , Mahershala Ali , Paul Sparks , Ellen Burstyn , Molly Parker were nominated once each for Best Guest Actress. Reg E. Cathey received an award and two other nominations for his guest role as Freddy Hayes . In addition, the series was awarded for the camera, the casting, the direction, the sound editing and the music composition.

Golden Globes

Season	1	2	3	4th	5	total
Nominations	3	2	1	0	open	6th
Awards	1	1	0	0	open	2

Golden Globe Awards

The series has been nominated 6 times and awarded 2 times for the Golden Globe Awards . Kevin Spacey and Robin Wright were each recognized once for best leading actor and best leading actress in a drama series. In addition, Corey Stoll received a 2014 nomination for best supporting actor for the impersonation of his character Peter Russo . In the category of Best Drama Series was House of Cards 2 times nominated. For the Golden Globe Awards 2016 Robin Wright was nominated for the second time for best actress.

Trivia

• Some members of the Russian band Pussy Riot have a guest appearance in the third episode of the third season. They are also shown in the credits at a protest concert in an American city.
• It is unclear who held the office of president before Garrett Walker. Walker is proclaimed the 45th President several times, so Underwood is the 46th President, as is shown in the last episode of the second season. The real 44th President, Barack Obama , is not mentioned in the series, so that one can only speculate about his existence. In the seventh episode of season four, Republican presidential candidate Will Conway refers to the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks . Although the then President George W. Bush is not directly mentioned, it can be assumed that Bush was sworn in as President in 2001, thus succeeding Bill Clinton . Clinton's existence in the series' universe is confirmed by a painting that can be seen in the White House in seasons three and four, as well as a statement by Russian President Petrov in an interview with Underwood in season three that he said he should not agree to Russia for having participated in the peace process after the Bosnian war , criticized. This also applies to George HW Bush , who served as President of the United States between 1989 and 1993. The existence of other presidents, including Abraham Lincoln , George Washington , Dwight D. Eisenhower , John F. Kennedy , Richard Nixon, and Ronald Reagan , is also confirmed by paintings.
• The figure Viktor Petrov shows parallels to Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin . So Petrov claims at his first personal meeting with Frank Underwood in the third season, this is his "third President"; At the time of the season's release, Clinton, George W. Bush, and Obama have served as US presidents since Putin's presidency. Furthermore, Claire Underwood brings the explosive attacks on houses in Russia in 1999 (and the subsequent Second Chechnya War ) and the hostage-taking in Moscow's Dubrovka Theater in 2002 in connection with the FSB , which Petrov used in his favor; these events also occur during Putin's term of office as head of state or government. This contrasts with statements by Petrov that he served in Afghanistan for six months during his time with the KGB . Although Putin also worked for the KGB, he was mainly used for it in the GDR .
• Underwood's rise to president resembles that of Gerald Ford . Like Underwood, he was appointed Vice President Richard Nixons out of Congress in 1973 after the original Vice President Spiro Agnew had to resign. After Nixon stumbled upon the Watergate affair , Ford himself rose to be president in 1974. Underwood has not yet been elected to office by an Electoral College . A scene in the fourth season shows that Underwood took office as President on October 30, 2014. According to the 22nd Amendment , like Ford at the time, it is only possible for him to be elected for one more term, since he will end more than half of the term of office that his predecessor Walker began. In season 5, Mark Usher says after Underwood has been elected that his goal would be to turn his 4 years in office into 10 (i.e. 2 years following Walker and 2 elections won), which, as explained, would not be possible.
• Like Ford in Nelson Rockefeller's case , Frank Underwood nominated Donald Blythe as his vice-president through the 25th constitutional amendment . In the fourth season, Blythe also voluntarily renounces a nomination as a running mate in the upcoming elections.
• When Underwood took his oath of office at Camp David after Walker stepped down at the end of season two, Underwood became the fifth president not to have been sworn in in Washington, DC since the city became capital in 1800. Chester A. Arthur ( New York City ), Theodore Roosevelt ( Buffalo ), Calvin Coolidge ( Plymouth ) and Lyndon B. Johnson ( Dallas ) each came into office through the deaths of their predecessors.
• In the course of the 2016 presidential election , lead actor Kevin Spacey was asked how a possible TV debate between Frank Underwood and the polarizing Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump would go. Spacey replied that this debate was not going to take place because Trump would have had a terrible accident on the way there.
• Kevin Spacey is friends with former US President Bill Clinton. For this reason, a picture of his character Francis Underwood hangs in the congress office in which the two can be seen sitting next to each other.
• In real life, Secretary of State Catherine Durant's actress Jayne Atkinson is married to Garrett Walker's actor Michel Gill.

literature

templates

• Michael Dobbs : A house of cards . Bastei-Verlag Lübbe, Bergisch Gladbach 1992, ISBN 3-404-13416-8
• Michael Dobbs: About head and crown . Bastei-Verlag Lübbe, Bergisch Gladbach 1996, ISBN 3-404-13781-7
• Michael Dobbs: Chess to the King . Bastei-Verlag Lübbe, Bergisch Gladbach 1997, ISBN 3-404-13877-5

Review mirror

season 1

positive

• Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung of November 9, 2013, by Michael Hanfeld : The shark loves blood
• The Tagesspiegel of November 10, 2013, by Joachim Huber: Sat.1 brings “House of Cards” to free TV

Rather positive

• Süddeutsche Zeitung of February 1, 2013, by Fritz Göttler: Days of betrayal
• Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung of February 10, 2013, by Gina Thomas: The strong is most powerful in two
• Süddeutsche Zeitung of November 8, 2013, by Jürgen Schmieder : The boss here, that's me
• Süddeutsche Zeitung of November 14, 2013, by Willi Winkler : It's Brecht, stupid

season 2

positive

• Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung of February 14, 2014, by Patrick Bahners: Corpses pave his way
• Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung of February 17, 2014, by Stefan Schulz: Don't regret anything!

Rather positive

• The time of February 15, 2014, by Christopher Pramstaller: The Cold Breath of the Capitol
• The time from February 20, 2014, by Christina Rietz: Der Teufelsumarmer

season 3

Rather positive

• The time of February 26, 2015, by Philipp Reinartz : Pussy Riot in the White House

Rather critical

• The Friday of March 27th, 2015, by Frank Günther: Richard Underwood III.

negative

• The time of April 15, 2015, by Nicklas Baschek: The most expensive soap opera in the world

Season 4

positive

• Die Welt from March 10th, 2016, by Hannes Stein : "House of Cards" - A bastard, but ours

Neutral

• The time of March 6, 2016, by Daniel Gerhardt: Underwood versus Underwood

Web links

• Official website at Netflix
• House of Cards in the Internet Movie Database (English)
• Sky Atlantic official website
• House of Cards at Fernsehserien.de
• Adam Sternbergh: The Post-Hope Politics of 'House of Cards' , In: New York Times Magazine . January 31, 2014. (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Adam Arndt: House of Cards: 5th season ordered, showrunner Beau Willimon leaves. In: serienjunkies.de. January 29, 2016. Retrieved January 29, 2016 . 
2. ↑ Nellie Andreeva: 'House Of Cards': Melissa James Gibson & Frank Pugliese Named New Showrunners. In: deadline.com. February 26, 2016, accessed February 27, 2016 . 
3. ↑ Netflix ends "House of Cards" after Season 6 . In: dwdl.de, accessed on: October 30, 2017.
4. ^ Last season of "House of Cards" without Kevin Spacey. In: spiegel.de. December 4, 2017, accessed December 4, 2017 . 
5. ^ ^{A b} Claire Underwood for President: "House of Cards" will be back on Sky from November 2nd. In: info.sky.de. October 31, 2018, accessed November 2, 2018 . 
6. ↑ Lisa Ludwig: The best life advice from 'House of Cards'. In: VICE . March 4, 2015, accessed June 29, 2015 . 
7. ↑ Series revolution “House of Cards” starts in Germany. In: Focus Online . November 8, 2013, accessed June 29, 2015 . 
8. ↑ Philipp Reinartz: The most powerful politician in the world as an antagonist: Vladimir Putin. In: time online . February 26, 2015, accessed June 27, 2015 . 
9. ^ House of Cards. In: synchronkartei.de. German synchronous index , accessed on May 27, 2014 . 
10. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g} Alan Sepinwall: 'House of Cards' director David Fincher on making 13 hours for Netflix. In: hitfix.com. January 29, 2013, accessed July 1, 2015 . 
11. ↑ ^{a b c d e} W. H. Bourne: Beau Willimon's House of Cards. In: creativescreenwriting.com. September 5, 2013, accessed March 24, 2016 . 
12. ^ Morgan Jeffery: Kevin Spacey 'House of Cards' Q&A: 'My role is diabolical, delicious'. In: digitalspy.co.uk. January 27, 2013, accessed July 1, 2015 . 
13. ↑ Nellie Andreeva: Kevin Spacey Set To Star In David Fincher's Drama Series For MRC 'House Of Cards'. In: deadline.com. March 3, 2011, accessed July 1, 2015 . 
14. ^ Lesley Goldberg: Robin Wright in Talks to Star in Netflix's 'House of Cards' (Exclusive). In: hollywoodreporter.com. June 9, 2011, accessed July 1, 2015 . 
15. ↑ Sam Kashner: Robin Wright on Her Role as Claire Underwood and Her Marriage to Sean Penn. In: Vanity Fair . March 24, 2015, accessed March 24, 2016 . 
16. ↑ Jazz Tangcay: Robin Wright On Acting and Her Next Career Direction. In: awardsdaily.com. May 23, 2016, accessed May 26, 2016 . 
17. ↑ Nellie Andreeva: Jennifer Finnigan Joins David E. Kelley TNT Pilot, Kate Mara In Netflix's 'House Of Cards'. In: deadline.com. February 1, 2012, accessed July 1, 2015 . 
18. ^ Sarah Hughes: Why we're watching ... Kate Mara. In: theguardian.com . January 20, 2013, accessed July 1, 2015 . 
19. ↑ Nellie Andreeva: Corey Stoll To Co-Star Opposite Kevin Spacey On Netflix Series 'House Of Cards'. In: deadline.com. February 6, 2012, accessed July 19, 2015 . 
20. ↑ Nellie Andreeva: Constance Zimmer On 'House Of Cards'. In: deadline.com. March 20, 2012, accessed July 19, 2015 . 
21. ↑ Nellie Andreeva: Netflix Series 'House Of Cards' Adds Cast. In: deadline.com. March 29, 2012, accessed July 19, 2015 . 
22. ↑ Jayne Atkinson chats 4th season of "House of Cards," Kevin Spacey and Robin Wright. In: youtube.com. May 18, 2016, accessed May 26, 2016 . 
23. ↑ Dominic Patten: Netflix's 'House of Cards' Adds Broadway's Sebastian Arcelus To Cast. In: deadline.com. July 17, 2012, accessed July 19, 2015 . 
24. ↑ Riema Al-Khatib: House of Cards: Sam Page and Molly Parker with roles in the 2nd season. In: serienjunkies.de. May 31, 2013, accessed September 5, 2015 . 
25. ^ "House of Cards" star Elizabeth Norment dies at 61. In: focus.de. October 28, 2014, accessed July 19, 2015 . 
26. ↑ Neve Campbell is involved in "House of Cards". In: focus.de. July 1, 2015, accessed July 19, 2015 . 
27. ↑ Adam Arndt: House of Cards: Colm Feore in season 4. In: serienjunkies.de. September 4, 2015, accessed September 5, 2015 . 
28. ↑ Welcome to Washington, Joel Kinnaman. In: twitter.com. February 2, 2016, accessed February 2, 2016 . 
29. ^ Lesley Goldberg: 'House of Cards' Adds Patricia Clarkson, Campbell Scott (Exclusive). In: hollywoodreporter.com. October 21, 2016, accessed October 21, 2016 . 
30. ↑ DWDL.de GmbH: Netflix separates completely from Kevin Spacey - DWDL.de . In: DWDL.de . ( Online [accessed November 4, 2017]).
31. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g} Brian Stelter: A Drama's Streaming Premiere. In: nytimes.com. January 18, 2013, accessed March 24, 2016 . 
32. ^ Robert Abele: Playing With a New Deck. In: dga.com . January 25, 2013, accessed July 1, 2015 . 
33. ↑ Maureen Ryan: Netflix Builds a 'House of Cards' That Could Knock Down the Networks. In: aoltv.com. March 18, 2011, accessed July 1, 2015 . 
34. ↑ Jake Coyle: Netflix Show 'House Of Cards' Is A Big Gamble. In: huffingtonpost.com . January 24, 2013, accessed July 1, 2015 . 
35. ↑ David Carr and Ashley Parker, Debating 'House of Cards': What the Show Gets Right and Wrong About Journalism. In: nytimes.com . February 22, 2013, accessed July 1, 2015 . 
36. ^ ^{A b c} Scott Roxborough: Why Netflix's 'House of Cards' Is the Future of TV. In: hollywoodreporter.com. October 7, 2012, accessed July 1, 2015 . 
37. ↑ Nellie Andreeva: Kevin Spacey Set To Star In David Fincher's Drama Series For MRC 'House Of Cards'. In: deadline.com. March 3, 2011, accessed July 1, 2015 . 
38. ↑ Nellie Andreeva: Netflix To Enter Original Programming With Mega Deal For David Fincher-Kevin Spacey Series 'House Of Cards'. In: deadline.com. March 15, 2011, accessed July 1, 2015 . 
39. ↑ Kevin Spacey urges TV channels to give control to viewers. In: youtube.com . August 23, 2013, accessed July 1, 2015 . 
40. ↑ Andrew Wallenstein: Netflix Series Spending Revealed. In: Variety . March 8, 2013, accessed August 12, 2016 . 
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58. ^ David Anderson: Former Churchville gas station dressed up for 'House of Cards' shooting. In: The Baltimore Sun. July 26, 2016, accessed July 27, 2016 . 
59. ^ Antonia Blyth: House Of Cards' Michael Kelly On Season 5: "There Have Always Been Radical Changes In This Show". In: deadline.com. August 29, 2016, accessed August 30, 2016 . 
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64. ↑ House of Cards - Season 4 - Official Trailer - Netflix [HD]. In: youtube.com. February 10, 2016, accessed February 27, 2016 . 
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117. ^ Academy of Television Arts & Sciences: House of Cards: Awards & Nominations , August 12, 2017
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119. ↑ Hollywood Foreign Press Association: House of Cards: Awards & Nominations , July 18, 2015
120. ↑ "Carter made [promises to participate] too, and then we were kicked out of the negotiations at Camp David. Just like with Clinton and Bosnia. ”- President Petrov in conversation with President Underwood, season 3, episode 3
121. ↑ Could Frank Underwood stop Trump's candidacy? . In: The world . February 13, 2016.