House of Cards: Robin Wright Regrets Claire Not Being Elected President

Robin Wright regrets that her House of Cards character, Claire Underwood, was not legitimately elected to the presidency. Produced by David Fincher, House of Cards was the first Netflix series to be produced in-house and helped usher in a new era for streaming services and prestige television. It starred Kevin Spacey as Frank Underwood, a scheming politician who manipulates and murders his way into the White House. He is aided by his wife Claire, who is equally ruthless and ambitious. House of Cards was hugely successful as well as critically acclaimed, racking up 33 Emmy Award nominations in its six-season run.

The Netflix series was nearly derailed when accusations of sexual misconduct led to Spacey’s firing. However, in House of Cards season 5, Frank had already maneuvered his wife into the Oval Office by making her his Vice President and then resigning so she could take over and pardon him for his crimes. With Claire’s presidency already set up, the series easily killed off Frank off-screen, and Wright assumed the lead role in season 6.

During an appearance on PeopleTV’s Couch Surfing (via EW), Wright expressed her one regret about Claire’s storyline in the final season. Though she was pleased to end her already impressive run on House of Cards by directing the series finale, she did wish that Claire’s success was achieved by means other than lying, cheating, and killing. She explained: “It was quite an honor to close out the show [as director]. I did wish that she had been nominated as president legitimately. That would have been a nice little caveat to put out in the world to say, ‘See? It’s possible.’“

She also shared that she was initially hesitant to sign on to House of Cards, both because it was a television show and because she didn’t want to play “a woman who’s arm candy to a politician.” But David Fincher convinced her the character would “evolve” into a more complex and “corrupt female character.” That promise was certainly fulfilled by the time Claire ascended to the presidency and became the last Underwood standing.

Wright’s wish that Claire could have been elected legitimately is understandable, at the time House of Cards was airing, there was no example of a democratically elected female president (or VP) in real life. Representation is important, and Claire Underwood was not a good representation of a female politician. She was a corrupt person through and through who had to manipulate her way into a seat of power.

However, the fact that Frank and Claire were bad people was the entire point of House of Cards. To have elected either of them based on their pure merit of character would have betrayed what the show is about. The Netflix series was never meant to provide good representation of female leaders, or really, good representation of anybody. Perhaps there could have been a version of House of Cardswhere Claire was elected fair and square, but the version viewers got was probably the most true to her character.

Source: Couch Surfing (via EW)