Characters / House of Cards (US): Underwoods

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The Underwoods

In General

"If we're gonna go beyond marriage, let's go beyond it. "

"The 3rd of September. That's a date which matters. It's the day, three decades past, that a red neck from Gaffney married a debutant from Dallas, and the Earth's axis tilted that day. Though neither they, nor we, knew it at the time. Here's a woman who described her vows as a suicide flirting with a bridge's edge. And a man who wears his wedding ring as a badge of shame, for the debutant deserved more. But truly, what more could she desire? Together they rule an empire without heirs. Legacy is their only child."

—Thomas Yates

• Ambition Is Evil: All their acts of cruelty and immorality spawn from their overwhelming, unlimited ambition. And even though Frank is currently ahead of Claire in that respect, she has already made clear that she'd go just as far as him if given the opportunity.
• Battle Couple: Of the political maneuvering kind. When they're not gambiting against each other, that is.
• Birds of a Feather: Their shared ambition has been keeping them strong for three solid decades.
• Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Both Underwoods present themselves as a charming and humble southern couple. In truth they're some of the most ruthless and ambitious politicians in Washington.
• Corrupt Politician: They're one of media's most infamous examples of ruthlessly ambitious politicians who chase power at all cost.
• Despotism Justifies the Means: The only thing they care for is power for the sake of power regardless of those around them.
• Even Evil Has Loved Ones: As much as they butt heads when their respective political ambitions come between them, Frank and Claire truly do love each other, though in a twisted sort of way. Frank says in Season 4 that at the end of it all, it's the two of them against the world. By Season 5 however, they become more in love with power than eachother.
• Evil Versus Evil: The first half of Season 4 sees them pitted against each other as Claire begins seeking her own political ambitions and plots against Frank, who responds in kind. They make amends following Frank's assassination attempt and recovery.
• Fatal Flaw: Pride, for both of them. Frank's plans are sometimes ill-thought out and/or will have disastrous consequences, while Claire seeks political positions she's unqualified for. The both of them also tend to stubbornly attempt to do things without the other's help, even if they could offer it. This is part of why they're more effective together than separate; they can call each other out and come up with something better.
• Lust: Of the 'for power' variety, the two really just can't seem to help themselves.
• Not Wanting Kids Is Weird: Their status as a childless political couple is treated as a dehumanizing oddity by the public.
• Polyamory: They're both very content with their spouse having other sexual partners, with the only concern being a lack of discretion. In season 4 Claire sleeps with Tom Yates a few times but pushes him away for discretion's sake. Frank vetoes the breakup and invites Tom to live with them because he can see Tom's good for Claire.
• Ruling Couple: What they eventually aspire to become in season 4, with Claire as Frank's running mate.
• Slowly Slipping Into Evil: Neither of them were ever nice, but at the start of the show they are merely ruthless careerists with few genuine principles and only slightly more corrupt than the average politician; they also do genuine good for others in their jobs, if usually for selfish reasons. As the series continues, revenge, hunger for power and covering up their own misdeeds transforms them into murderers who end up screwing over the entire country just to maintain their positions.
• Ugly Guy, Hot Wife: A mild example. Frank isn't horribly looking, but Kevin Spacey makes him slightly overweight and has a puffy face, while Robin Wright has aged a lot better to make Claire a stylish beauty.
• Unholy Matrimony: One of the defining examples in the current TV landscape. Politics and schemes actually play a much bigger role in their marriage than romance, which is exactly how they both want it.
• Uptown Girl: When they initially met, Frank had nothing going for him but his charisma and political talent, while Claire was born into a lavishly wealthy Texan rancher dynasty. Despite lots of competition he won her over very easily.

Frank

President Francis J. "Frank" Underwood

"Democracy is so overrated."

Portrayed By: Kevin Spacey

Bad, for the greater good.

An utterly ruthless and conniving politician, he pursues only his own political agenda and manipulates everyone around him to grab influence and prestige, at the potential cost of utterly destroying everyone else to push himself forward.

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• Aborted Arc: Whatever he was going to do in Season 6 was cut short by Spacey being fired after his history as a sexual predator came to light.
• Abusive Parents: His father was an abusive alcoholic and caused his wife and son years of misery. Underwood has said that when he was 13, he walked in on his father putting a shotgun in his mouth. Calvin asked him to pull the trigger, which he refused to do. He has stated that his biggest regret is not killing his father when he had the chance.
• Adaptational Backstory Change: Francis Urquhart, of the original novels and BBC series, was a Blue Blood aristocrat who traced his family lineage to the time of King James I and showed disdain towards Henry Collingridge (the UK counterpart to Garrett Walker) for being lower-class. By contrast, Frank Underwood came from an impoverished family in an insignificant South Carolina town and has clawed his way up to Congress (then the vice presidency, then the presidency) from that background.
• Adaptational Heroism: He's far more pragmatic than the original series' Francis Urquhart, lacking his bouts of It Amused Me. On the other hand...
• Adaptational Villainy: Like his British counterpart, he kills the young reporter he was using when she starts turning on him. But while Francis Urquhart offed Mattie Storin in a fit of passion and spent the rest of the series haunted by it, Frank deliberately set Zoe Barnes up and doesn't give another thought to it afterwards (aside from a hallucination while he's recovering from getting shot).
• And Then What?: Clearly hadn't thought about what he was going to do once he became President. Once he gets there, he's scrambling to try and make his mark once Season 3 rolls round, developing the unwieldy and unpopular America Works out of misapropriated FEMA funds. The answer eventually ends up being "consolidating his and Claire's power" in Season 4.
• Armoured Closet Gay: Downplayed in both regards; he's Bi, and doesn't make any official stance on LGBT rights.
• Asshole Victim: Privately, neither the Republican or Democratic congressional leadership really care about Frank after he gets shot by Lucas Goodwin. Bob Birch remarks that they'll need to appropriate the funds for a state funeral with the same tone of voice that you'd use to say "We need to order more toilet paper."
• Bad Boss: In Seasons 3 and 4.
• Bait the Dog: Frank breathes this. He befriends people, gets seemingly outraged at others' lack of standards, and shows real love for his wife and friends...but all of it is ultimately revealed to truly not matter to Frank when compared to power. He will turn on anyone without regret if it suits his needs and never look back.
• Batman Gambit: He pulls many of these throughout the show. And he often breaks the fourth wall (hand waved as talking to God at one point) to let the audience know when he's about to use one, and when the gambit succeeded.
• Breaking Speech: Subverted. Frank gives one to Claire at the end of Season 3 to make her give up any hope for personal achievement—and to just play her role as the obedient wife. Claire leaves him the next day.
• Bus Crash: Season 6, which was filmed after Kevin Spacey's firing, established that Frank died offscreen between seasons.
• Catchphrase: "You might think that. I couldn't possibly comment" was Urquhart's in the original and Frank throws it out a few times as homage. Interestingly the show creator made Frank Underwood Southern because he thought the phrase didn't sound like something an American would say unless they were from the South.
• The Chessmaster: Oh, yes. Along with being a Manipulative Bastard, he is also a master strategist who uses political experience and savvyness to gain more power. Lampshaded by scenes of him toying with pieces on a chessboard and offering to teach the game to his assistant Stamper.
• Child Hater:
  • After being bumped by Russo's kids: "I'm not going to lie; I despise children."
  • After seeing a viral video of Will Conway and his kids: "You guessed it. I still hate children."
• Classic Villain: Underwood's character is obviously inspired by a few Shakespearean villains, most notably Richard III, Iago and Macbeth.
  • Like Richard III, Frank covets the highest position in the land and has no real claim to it, so he commits many despicable acts including murder to get it. Also, very much like Richard, Frank has a habit of directly addressing the audience to make snarky comments about his enemies, often in the middle of conversations with said enemies.
  • Like "Honest Iago" in Othello, Frank is initially passed over for an important promotion and so embarks on his revenge by feigning friendship to all and using poisonous words to play all sides against each other to put himself in higher positions of power until he directly has the President's ear. He then manipulates the POTUS into a political trap while claiming all the while to be working in his best interests, all to gain the Presidency for himself. Unlike Iago, Frank actually succeeds.
  • Like Macbeth, Frank has an equally scheming manipulative wife who compels him to continue on his corrupt and bloody path to power.
• Curb-Stomp Battle: Of the political variety against Senator Michael Kern early on in the series. After Kern is picked over Frank for Secretary of State, Frank sets out to destroy Kern's career. It's accomplished by the middle of the second episode. Even Frank seems surprised at how easily he's managed it.
• Death by Irony: In the original series, Urquhart kills Stamper. Here? It's the other way around.
• Devil in Plain Sight: Especially at first. Later on some of the characters begin to catch on to how Frank's machinations always seem to end up advancing his own interests even when he claims otherwise. In Season 3, almost everyone Frank deals with knows what type of man he is, and the question becomes will he still get his way despite this.
• Didn't Think This Through: You did it, Frank, you made it to the presidency! Too bad your power is nothing close to absolute and everyone in Washington you need to support your reign is now aware of what a grasping scumbag you are.
• Dirty Old Man: Frank, at approximately 54 years old, starts an affair with Zoe Barnes, who, at 29 years of age, is young enough to be his daughter. He even has a disturbing sexual encounter with her where he performs oral sex on her while she's on the phone with her father, then essentially asks her to wish him happy Father's Day while implying she's his surrogate daughter.
• Disease Bleach: Paralleling real life U.S presidents, the stress of the Oval Office causes Frank's hair to go greyer throughout season 3 until it is white by Season 4, though this is also caused by the stress his body undergoes after his assassination attempt.
• Disproportionate Retribution: Walker didn't give Frank the position he promised him, so Frank sets out to systematically dismantle, discredit, and depose, Walker's administration.
• The Dog Bites Back: Subverted, as this seems to be the setup when Walker and the Democrats deny him the post they had promised him as soon as he has outlived his usefulness. Then it quickly becomes clear Frank on the inside is one of the ugliest people in Washington, (which is saying something in this universe) robbing Frank of most of his sympathy. You really only root for him because of how clever he is.
• Double Standard: A big part of his hypocrisy. He's actually done or is most of things he decries about other politicians in his fourth wall observations.
• Even Evil Has Standards:
  • Subverted time and again. Frank claims many supposed "standards" throughout the series, but ultimately each and every one is nothing but either pragmatism, or an act for the public.
  • At the very least, he genuinely despises slavery and the Confederacy, but it's moreso hypocritical since he treats people no better than how plantation owners treated their slaves.
• Evil Chancellor: Spends his whole stint as VP scheming to depose the President.
• Evil Is Petty:
  • Early on in the series Frank destroys the career of Senator Michael Kern, for no other reason than because Kern was given the job of Secretary of State over Frank.
  • Furthermore, Frank spits on a statue of Jesus, pisses on his father's grave, destroys a Presidential bust in the White House, and burns the Oval Office's American flag with a cigarette. Why? Because he can.
• False Friend: Pretends to be a loyal friend of Walker while he backstabs him, which is basically true for everybody else too.
• Fatal Flaw: Ultimately, his core flaw is that in his lust for power, he never took into account the responsibility that comes from wielding it. He's a cunning schemer and manipulator, but once he's in a position of real authority. He's a complete mess.
• Faux Affably Evil: A charming Southern gentleman who pretends to be friendly and polite with everybody while scheming their downfall or ruin, usually in a nefarious way.
• First-Person Smartass: His narration is among the snarkiest you're likely to find.
  Frank: David Rasmussen is the House Majority Leader, which puts him one step above me and one below (Speaker of the House) Birch, which is akin to being between a very hungry wolf and a very quarrelsome sheep. Let's see if he stays with the herd or joins the pack.
• Fourth-Wall Observer: He repeatedly addresses the camera to let the viewer know his thoughts about events, especially his machinations, or other characters; he's the only character who does it.
  • Though in Season 3, the Alzheimers-afflicted Justice Jacobs appears to notice it.
  • In the final shot of Season 4, although she doesn't speak, Claire ends up staring dead into the camera along with Frank. His final aside is phrased in the first person plural, too.
• From Nobody to Nightmare: Underwood was perfectly happy helping the President's agenda, so long as he was promoted to the main Secretary of State. Then the President broke their deal, deciding Francis was better use to him as chief whip, a job Francis has held for twenty years. Cue the entire plot of the show, which is essentially Francis casually destroying everything his former "friends" have worked so hard for.
• Happily Married: To Claire, whom he clearly loves. It might be the one part of each of their lives that isn't ugly and manipulative, even during Frank's fling with Zoe Barnes. Subverted later as he slowly becomes more controlling and abusive towards her, culminating in Frank coldly promising to murder her if she betrays him.
• Hollywood Atheist: He has no use for God or religion except when it suits his purposes. He claims at one point "I pray to myself, for myself." Eventually he literally goes to church just to spit on Jesus's face.
• Hope Crusher: Frank doesn't specifically set out to do this, but if he can manage it along the way, well...
  "It only takes ten seconds to crush a man's ambition."
• Hypocrite: Frank is ridiculously self-righteous.
  • When Frank is passed over for Secretary of State, he says that promises "remain immune to changing circumstances"; three episodes later, he handwaves a betrayal as "revising the parameters of my promise". He then immediately lampshades to Walker that he ought to understand that.
  • While Breaking the Fourth Wall when talking about Russo, he says men who talk about family values while sleeping with hookers will be made to pay the price for their hypocrisy. Not long afterwards, he begins an affair with Zoe Barnes, albeit with his wife's knowledge. Further, nothing about Frank shows him to have much respect for families or family values.
  • One of Frank's scenes of fourth-wall breaking has him saying that he wouldn't argue with the viewer for thinking of him as one.
  • Frank acts like he hates slavery, but it's very clear that he treats everyone as a disposable object. In season 4, Freddie also points out Frank's casual but still evident racism/ elitism when Frank's idea of celebrating Freddie's new job is that Freddie come over and make Frank ribs.
  • He promises to appoint two separate people to the position of Secretary of State in order to win the 2016 Democratic nomination. Catherine Durant explicitly points out that this exactly what Garrett Walker pulled in 2012, which is what caused Underwood to seek revenge in the first place.
• Irony: Frank, villain that he is, holds the C.S.A. in contempt. His birth place and home state is South Carolina, the first U.S. state to secede.
• It's All About Me: Everything Frank does is to further his own political ambitions, and he cares nothing for the lives and careers he has to destroy to do so.
• I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: The reason he's so encouraging about Claire's affair with Tom Yates. Intimacy has never been a big part of the Underwoods' marriage, so Frank is glad his wife has found it somewhere else.
• Know When to Fold 'Em: His strategy in Season 3 is to just admit defeat and give up the hope of re-election in 2016. While he still has ulterior motives, Frank admits he can't make the Democratic leaders support him when they've already made up their minds, and sells his decision to them as realizing he'd have to spend most of his presidency campaigning just to lose anyway.
• Lack of Empathy: Frank has no regard for the people he uses to and tosses aside to achieve his goals nor does he have any remorse for doing so. Even Claire isn't safe from Frank's sheer cold-heartedness.
• Loophole Abuse: Frank's rise to power is all about becoming President by knowing how to manipulate the political system just right, in order to get Walker to make him his vice-president after arranging the current one to resign, then arranging for Walker himself to resign. His "democracy is so overrated" quote is the punctuation mark at the end of a Badass Boast where Frank tells the audience he's just "one heartbeat away" from becoming President when not one single presidential ballot for him was cast.
• Manipulative Bastard: Oh, yes. The entire series is built around him manipulating others to feed his hunger for power.
• Meaningful Name: "Underwood" for the underhanded and under-the-desk tactics he uses to manipulate his way to power. On the other hand, "Frank" in modern slang refers to a direct and honest action. Even Frank's name is duplicitous and hypocritical. His initials are "F.U.", a fitting phrase for his general "fuck you" attitude towards most everyone he crushes on his way to the top.
  • Michael Dobbs, who wrote the original novel, deliberately created Francis Urquhart as a character with the initials F.U. after a tense argument with then-UK Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.
• Morality Pet: Played with and ultimately subverted. Frank treats various characters, be they his wife Claire or his friend Freddy, kindly enough as long as it suits him, but when he runs out of usefulness for them, he has zero issues forgetting about, betraying, or outright murdering them.
• No Celebrities Were Harmed:
  • Frank seems to be a Democratic version of Tom DeLay, an infamously corrupt former Republican Whip whose ambitions were hampered by his scheming and the fact that he was too damn good in his position as House Whip to be allowed to climb up the ladder. Also like Frank, DeLay was a southerner from humble roots (he worked as an exterminator at one point before entering Congress).
  • Frank has also been compared to Lyndon Johnson, with both being Southern Democrats known for pragmatic political savvy, though Frank takes LBJ's trademark ambition and ruthlessness up a notch.^note Possibly as an in-joke, Frank has a framed picture of LBJ giving his famous "Johnson treatment" to a Congressman hanging in his office, and is at one point shown reading The Passage of Power, Volume 4 of Robert Caro's Doorstopper LBJ biography series The Years of Lyndon Johnson.
  • His roots as a prominent Southern Democrat and especially the relations between he and his wife resembles Bill Clinton, and many of his actions (read: sleeping with Zoe Barnes) bear resemblance to a Conspiracy Theorist take on the Clintons' political careers.
  • Kevin Spacey has said that he got some of Frank's character down by shadowing California congressman Kevin McCarthy, who went on to become Speaker of the House for nine months in 2023.
  • Frank is a jowly former Vice President turned President with a lot of enemies, paranoia, underhandedness, and feeling unappreciated. Comparisons to Richard Nixon would be inevitable.
  • Frank is a former member of the House leadership in the same party as a sitting President who ends up promoted to Vice President partway through his term. He ascends to the presidency when his predecessor resigns rather than face impeachment over a scandal. He immediately finds himself mired in constroversy and despite being the incumbent ends up in a vicious primary battle he only barely manages to triumph in, only to end up in a nailbiter bid to win reelection that heavily hinges on foreign affairs issues. One could argue House of Cards is an answer to the question 'What if Gerald Ford had masterminded the fall of Nixon?'
• Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: Had he not deliberately sabotaged his own reputation so Claire could become the president with the hopes to control behind the scenes, he wouldn’t have been betrayed by her and suddenly have no power left.
• Obnoxious In-Laws: He and Claire's mom are very open about their mutual dislike.
• Organ Theft: Frank's new liver wasn't meant for him. It was all Doug doing the manipulation behind the scenes, but it's quite certain that Frank wouldn't care about the family father who got passed over on the recipient list for him at all.
• Passed-Over Promotion: Being snubbed for the position of Secretary of State is what makes him "cry havoc and let slip the dogs of war", as he would say.
• Politically Incorrect Villain: Downplayed. Ultimately, Frank Hates Everyone Equally, and he dislikes slavery and the Confederacy. But he's proud of his father for shaking hands with a Klansman, dismisses a man as being "too queer", and tries reducing Freddy into an Uncle Tom.
• Power at a Price: He learns the hard way that becoming President is one thing but staying in power is a lot harder than he anticipated.
• President Evil: He is 46th President of United States and very, very evil and sinister.
• Protagonist-Centered Morality: To the extent Frank actually believes in anything like morality (which is to say, not much), he's the beneficiary of this, at least in the twisted bizzaro-universe of his narration, where he is usually honest but which also reveals every last one his hypocrisies and double standards.
• Purple Prose: Whenever Frank addresses the audience, he tends to use flowery metaphors.
• Rags to Riches: He grew up in poverty, the only son of a peach farmer who nearly lost the farm to foreclosure.
• Self-Made Man: He takes a great deal of pride in his rise from what he considers to be ignorant hillbilly origins.
• Sex for Solace: Early in Season 3, Claire has sex with a deeply depressed Frank, who seems to give up seeking the office in 2016. It gives him a boost of confidence and helps him come up his gambit for getting elected.
• Smug Snake: Grows more and more into this as the series progresses. Particularly in the Season 5 which ends him hoping Claire will pardon him when she becomes the president so that he can continue to be the de-facto ruler of the country. It backfires badly when Claire betrays him and decides to continue on her own instead.
• Shoot the Dog: The very first scene of the series is Frank performing a Mercy Kill on a fatally wounded dog although since it was in obvious agony and probably would have died before any help arrived, this could be considered a Pet the Dog moment.
• The Sociopath: He is cold and calculated, lets nothing and no one stand in his way, oozes false charm as he manipulates and lies to those around him, is very arrogant and self-righteous, and has no shame or remorse about anything he's done. Even his love for Claire, his one unquestionably redeeming trait of goodness, can be tossed aside when he feels it's a hindrance to his plans.
• Southern-Fried Genius: Frank's ruthless political cunning never ceases to amaze. His humble and charming Southern accent makes him all the more unassuming.
• Southern Gentlemen: He certainly presents himself this way, but it's just a mask for his sinister behavior.
• Too Clever by Half: Frank's defining flaw. He's a terrifyingly skilled strategist and cunning manipulator who is able to play people effortlessly to gain power. However, he has a much harder time actually using said power once he has it and never thinks that the people he burns to get to the top might also be ones he has to rely on once he is there or might come back for revenge later. As a result, his presidency doesn't really go anywhere as he proves hopelessly unsuited to a role where he can't simply smooth every crisis over with his charm or betray people to achieve his goals.
• Trademark Favorite Food: Loves to have ribs, even for breakfast.
• Treacherous Advisor: His counsel is always poisonous and/or self-serving.
• Underestimating Badassery: Most everyone else in the political world underestimates just how ruthless and resourceful Frank can be, and it's why he's able to manipulate them so easily. Eventually people start to wise up, however.
• Unreliable Narrator: Occasionally, especially after he's done something particularly despicable. More often, though, it seems that his narrations to the camera are one of the only time he gets to be honest, and he clearly enjoys it.
• Villainous Breakdown:
  • Begins to set in over the course of Season 3 as his grip on power begins to slip and his allies turn on him, and again to a lesser extent in Season 4 where he realises Hammerschmidt is trying to get dirt on him.
  • At the end of Season 5, he reveals he's actually been faking one for the past several episodes, having decided being The Man Behind the Man to Claire as president is the best way out from all his misdeeds coming back to haunt him. Then it happens for real when Claire promptly turns on him and refuses to pardon his actions as president, his last line in the season (and ultimately in the series) being a cold promise to the audience that he's going to kill her.
    Frank: If she doesn't pardon me, I'll kill her.
• Villain Protagonist: He's our narrator, our guide, our Mr. Exposition, and the main source of conflict.
• Villain with Good Publicity: By Season 2, he has maneuvered himself into the presidency. Though his colleagues have slowly gotten on to his game, somewhat, and have been noticing how everything he's involved with turns out to be his Xanatos Gambit.
• Visionary Villain: Subverted. He plays the long game to reach the Oval Office, but once he gets there he finds himself scrambling to put his name to something important so he can win a term of his own in the White House. His two major accomplishments, America Works and the Jordan Valley agreement, are both incredibly short-sighted, way too costly in political capital, and fall apart almost immediately upon implementation.
• Wicked Cultured: A well read and refined villain.
• Xanatos Speed Chess: It's unclear how much of his scheme Frank planned in advance, or if he simply set pieces in motion and knew how to think on his feet fast enough to capitalize.
• Zero-Approval Gambit: It's revealed during the Season 5 Finale that Frank Underwood intentionally set things in motion to expose himself as a corrupt President so he can resign and put his wife in charge. Because his wife is still well liked and trusted among the American people and most of the people in politics. However, Frank made a big mistake putting Claire in charge and putting himself in a situation where he no longer has complete control of every situation.

Claire

Claire Hale Underwood, First Lady of the United States

"Now tell me, am I really the sort of enemy you want to make?"

Portrayed By: Robin Wright

Behind every great man is a woman with blood on her hands.

Francis' wife. She runs the Clean Water Initiative, an NGO. She often gets involved with Frank's political scheming, as an aid and an abettor. She proves to be just as cold, manipulative and power-hungry as her husband, often setting her own lofty goals to work alongside helping with his and letting nothing stop her.

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• All Girls Want Bad Boys: It's revealed during one episode that she accepted Frank's hand in marriage because he didn't try to pamper her like her other suitors, or promise her children and a white picket fence. He promised her she'd never get bored. According to her, he was the only man who actually understood her.
  Claire: You know what Francis said to me when he proposed? I remember his exact words. He said, 'Claire, if all you want is happiness, say no. I'm not gonna give you a couple of kids and count the days until retirement. I promise you freedom from that. I promise you'll never be bored.' You know, he was the only man - and there were a lot of others who proposed - but he was the only one who understood me. He didn't put me on some pedestal. He knew that I didn't want to be adored or coddled. So he took my hand and put a ring on it. Because he knew I'd say yes.
• I Can't Do This by Myself: Once Frank is out of the picture, Claire effectively carves a bloody path and implodes in a span of time less than a normal length season of the show.
• Corrupt Corporate Executive: She runs the Clean Water Initiative, an environmental advocacy group that she wants to turn into an international charity, but is extremely underhanded and callous about how she advances her 'business'.
• Deuteragonist: She and her husband are definitely a team, but they're quite self-sufficient and so her plots tend not to involve the rest of the cast.
  • From the end of season five onward, Claire has become The Protagonist.
• Devil in Plain Sight: A particularly notable case since she runs a major environmentalist organization dedicated to helping the less fortunate.
• Even Evil Has Standards: At first, while she's usually willing to stoop to similar lows as Frank, or to help him in his schemes, she usually dislikes some of the things they resort to and feels guilty about them afterward.
• Expository Hairstyle Change: In chapter 33 she dyes her hair dark "like it was at the time she and Frank first met" when they reconcile after the diplomatic fiasco in Moscow and renew her wedding vows, and back to blond in chapter 36 after Frank is forced by Petrov to make her resign as the ambassador. Basically her brunette episode illustrated Hope Spot for of their marriage.
• False Friend: To the Walkers, much like her husband. She poisons their marriage through her fake friendship with the First Lady.
• Fourth-Wall Observer: Normally it's her husband's shtick. In the ending scene of season 4 though, she joins him in facing the camera directly, probably to emphasize how their brief dispute and the events of the primaries changed their dynamics. It remains in question if this was a one-time thing or will be maintained for season 5. In episode 11 of season 5, Claire finally does address the camera to make it clear she's always known it was there but just hasn't felt like speaking before now. The last scene of Season 5 has her looking straight into the camera and saying "My turn."
  • In season six she finally embraces this and talks to the viewer quite frequently.
• Friend to All Children: While not necessary great with kids, she has shown a certain fondness for them unlike her husband.
• Has a Type: She prefers blond bearded artsy men for affairs: photographer Adam Galloway and author Tom Yates. Both seem to represent the freedom and happy life she could have away from Frank.
• Head-Turning Beauty: Claire got to pick Frank from numerous suitors. Also there have been not one, but two former bodyguards of hers with Bodyguard Crush on her. Not to mention she's a Lust Object for two major world leaders while being married to one of them. Even if much of Petrov's flirting has the sole purpose of intimidating Frank, it doesn't make it any less comprehensible why somebody would be fascinated by her.
• Ice Queen: In a way that inverts Defrosting Ice Queen. She's outwardly warm and loving, but beneath her charity-queen veneer beats the subzero heart of a true Manipulative Bitch.
• I Love the Dead: Towards the end of Season 5 Claire poisons Tom Yates who dies while in the middle of having sex with her. As he dies, Claire is still on top of him and doesn't exactly race off of him once he's clearly dead. Although it may be more out of conflicted love for him than an interest in necrophilia.
• Kick the Dog: Saying to Gillian Cole that she is "willing to let your child wither and die inside you", if that's what is required to get her to drop the lawsuit.
• Lady Macbeth: "My husband doesn't apologize to anyone. Not even me."
• A Lighter Shade of Black: Unlike Frank, Claire has moral qualms, but they never actually prevent her from doing anything, just give her some minor regrets later. Some of her Macbethian influence on Frank is toned down compared to her British counterpart and she's slightly less villainous or cold, from time to time. Come Season 4 and especially Season 5, however, she sheds this status as she very much proves Frank's equal in villainy, and in some ways could be seen as even worse than him.
• Mirror Character: Close to the end of season 3 Claire during campaigning meets a young mother who tells her about her marriage, the story bearing uncomfortable parallels to Frank and Claire's marriage (down to details like the husband going by 'Jim', but the wife preferring calling him 'James'). Claire listens, but is unable to really comment and parts with the woman with the words: 'Good luck, Suzie'. An episode later, Claire is trying to tell about her own marriage to Tom Yates, but is unable to really open to him. When he leaves her with the words: 'Good luck, Claire', she visibly realizes the similarity between her and Suzie's situations and the conclusion that moving on from Frank might be the best of options.
• Never a Self-Made Woman: A source of tension for Claire. Her power and status originally came from her father - an Old Money family of ranchers. Frank marries her and uses that money to fuel his political career while Claire founds CWI (using Franks connections and her family's money) as a publicity machine for him. Her later political power as First Lady and as ambassador stems from Frank. A chilling speech from him pointing this trope out is what causes her to leave him, albeit only briefly.
• No Celebrities Were Harmed: Her behavior, political and personal affiliations, and even appearance bear strong resemblances to a Conspiracy Theorist take on Hillary Clinton. Her outfit and hairstyling choices in Season 6 make the resemblance all the more obvious.
• Not Wanting Kids Is Weird: She gets a lot of this, both in official interviews and casual smalltalk. It was actually her and Frank's joint decision to remain child-free.
  • In season six she is pregnant with Frank's child, and this time wants to keep it. Though, that seems to only be because she wants to keep all of Frank's inheritance.
• Prefers Proper Names: Claire is the only person who calls her husband 'Francis' instead of 'Frank', possibly because she is the only one to completely see through his persona.
• Rape as Backstory: Claire was raped by a man who later became a high-ranking commander in the armed services. The Underwoods' first public event of the Vice-Presidency is also the first time Claire has had contact with her assailant since the incident. When Frank learned that said man was one of the award recipients at the event, he is not happy.
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here: By the end of season 3, Claire is thoroughly sick of Frank after her only personal successes have been through him and his political power. She decides to leave him in the season finale after a he gives her a bone-chilling tirade about how she is nothing without him and how she will do exactly what he tells her.
• Signature Line: “Would you (verb) to me this way if I was a man?” Some of her non-gender based responses are nothing short of brilliant, but if she gets hit by something she’s unprepared for, she falls back to a misogyny accusation. Even against other women, who are obviously facing similar gender challenges as she is.
• Simple, yet Opulent: Her style of dress in a nutshell. She never wears anything too complicated or bright, and yet it all looks very carefully put together and lavishly expensive.
• Sleazy Politician: A philanthropist version. And, like her husband, she's nearly flawless in concealing her sleaziness.
• Smug Snake: In the beginning of season 4 her attempts to undermine Frank also undermine her, and by episode 4 she ends up with a 10% approval rating.
• Stepford Smiler: Played with. Both she and Frank are virtual equals when it comes to absolutely ice-cold manipulation, so this trope isn't actually present in their home life, but it is very much her persona as a high-society philanthropist (though her true persona sometimes bubbles close to the surface when interacting privately with her charity's employees).
• Took a Level in Badass: While she's always been tough, the takes it up a notch in season 4. Not only does she effectively pull the strings during Blythe's brief time as acting president, wins a crucial negotiation against Petrov of all people and finally gets Frank to acknowledge her as his equal, she also becomes his official running mate with much of the party's support behind her.
• Villain Protagonist: Much like her husband.
• Villain with Good Publicity: Her charity is shown to be really nothing more than a machine for generating good publicity, for herself, Frank, and MegaCorp oil company Sancorp. She's infinitely ruthless when it comes to ensuring the machine continues to function. Much like Frank, however, people are beginning to wise up to this.
• You Are in Command Now: Because of the growing scandals surrounding Frank Underwood in Season 5, he resigns as President and puts Claire in charge, because she is the Vice President. Turns out this was Frank Underwood's plan all along: to make his wife the face of the White House, while he controls things behind the scenes. However, the final scene of the Season 5 finale implies this might backfire on Frank. Claire doesn't pardon Frank for his crimes while being sworn into office, which she promised. She ignores his calls after he left the White House, and breaks the fourth wall telling the viewers that it's now her turn to rule.
• The Woman Behind the Man: Is one pulling the strings to guide Blythe when Frank gets shot.

Cabinet-Level

Donald

Vice President Donald Blythe

"When you've been in the wasteland as long as I have, you become immune to flattery."

Portrayed By: Reed Birney

"Yes, I made Donald my vice president. I'd rather him be a pain in my ass here than over in Congress."

— Francis J. Underwood

Democrat of New Hampshire, a respected and long-serving Representative who constantly gets in Frank's way due to his staunch liberal beliefs. He has a wife suffering from Alzheimers.

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• Beware the Nice Ones: While often dismissed by other politicians, during the entitlement bill crisis in Season 2, Blythe shows incredible steel, to the degree even Frank compliments him for it, and he immediately dismisses Frank’s attempt at flattery.
• The Creon: Shows surprising mettle during his time as acting president (with help behind the scenes by Claire, of course), but has no interest in leading, and is happy to relinquish power when Frank returns.
• Drowning My Sorrows: After his wife’s Alzheimer’s flare up and she cannot recognize him, he accepts a Scotch from Frank, signaling he’s becoming open to Frank’s manipulations.
• Kicked Upstairs: He was appointed Vice President in between seasons 2 and 3. The only reason Frank did so was because he didn't want to deal with Blythe interfering with his plans in Congress.
• The Lost Lenore: His wife Marjory is gradually dying to Alzheimer’s throughout Season 1, and dies sometime before Season 3. When Frank is shot and Blythe is there to comfort Claire, he makes it clear just how deeply her death still affects him.
• Nice Guy: He's probably the most moral and upstanding member of the cast besides President Walker. After the assassination attempt on Frank in Season 4, his first thought is what he can do for Claire.
• No Celebrities Were Harmed:
  • Blythe is a New England liberal with a penchant for sticking to his principles over political opportunity. He holds more than a passing resemblance to Bernie Sanders. However, Blythe is insecure and non-confrontational, unlike Sanders.
  • Given Frank's similarities to LBJ, Blythe could also be seen as this to the former's Vice-President, Hubert Humphrey; like Blythe, Humphrey was well known for being a idealistic Liberal that often put principle over Politics.
• Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: He hates Frank and hates being his vice president, but agreed to appointment in exchange for an Alzheimer's research center.
• Unwitting Pawn: He spends his entire time as acting president being manipulated by Claire. Not really a bad example since, through her, he's able to keep the country running and effectively confront Viktor Petrov on an oil deal.
• Vice President Who?: An invoked trope by Frank. No one believes Blythe would be up to the job of being president himself so it makes Congress less likely to impeach Underwood. Goes Horribly Right when he proves incapable of making any decisions during his time as acting president.
• You Are in Command Now: He becomes Acting President after Frank gets shot.

Seth

Seth Grayson, White House Press Secretary

"You can pay me when I've gotten you what you want. I don't take half pay for a job half done."

Portrayed By: Derek Cecil

A sinister political operative who becomes Press Secretary for Vice President Underwood through blackmail. Despite mutual distrust with Doug, his unorthodox methods quickly prove useful to Team Underwood.

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• Butt-Monkey: All during Season 4 he is disrespected and abused by Doug while mostly ignored by Frank. It forces him to consider jumping ship to Dunbar's campaign, and he intentionally leaked a photo of Frank shaking hands with a civil war reenactor in a confederate outfit to sabotage his campaign in South Carolina with African American voters.
• Chronic Backstabbing Disorder: He seems to know no loyalty except to himself. For a time, he did seem to be genuinely loyal to Frank until, like everyone else in the administration, Frank and Doug began to mistreat him.
• Consummate Professional: Seth is highly competent and coldly professional.
• The Dog Bites Back: Stands up to Doug's bullying and indifference once Doug's threat of being fired or killed was no longer possible.
• The Dragon: He gradually becomes one for Frank, essentially replacing Doug for the duration of Season 3. It isn't permanent, however.
• Graceful Loser: Played straight, then averted; he seemingly makes it clear that he has no hard feelings towards Doug Stamper, after Doug is given a cabinet job he was hoping for at the end of Season 3. Considering his later actions, he may have been more bitter then he let on.
• The Mole: For Remy initially, but then he switches loyalty to Frank and becomes a reverse mole. He becomes a mole for Heather Dunbar in Season 4.
• Not So Stoic: Is a cold, calculating professional in Season 3. But in Season 4, the disrespect by both Doug and Frank, as well as being left in the dark on most issues and having to explain everything to the Press blindly almost causes him to have a mental breakdown. Even Doug shows some sympathy at the end of the Season.
• Pet the Dog: Despite the utter insanity and even physical violence Doug subjects him to, he seems genuinely concerned for him to a degree, even pointing out how close he is to breaking his sobriety, though it’s more like concern for a rabid dog than anything else.
• Sharp-Dressed Man: Initially, he's quite well-dressed. After he becomes Press Secretary, he becomes just a little more slovenly in his appearance.

Chief of Staff

Stamper

Douglas "Doug" Stamper, White House Chief of Staff

"I have to be ruthless with myself. I have to use my fear. It makes me stronger."

Portrayed By: Michael Kelly

Absolute loyalty is a dish best plated cold.

Underwood's chief of staff and confidant. Despite his unwavering loyalty and trustworthiness to Frank, he is shown to be just as merciless and psychopathic towards others as his boss. A recovering alcoholic sober going on 14 years, Stamper takes an almost obsessive interest in Rachel, displaying feelings of protectiveness and love but also relocating her several times for the sake of Underwood's regime.

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• Adaptational Villainy: Tim Stamper begins the U.K. series as the Tory Junior Whip and one of Francis Urquhart's closest friends. However, over time he begins to question the ethics of FU's ruthlessness; this, combined with being passed over for promotion by FU, leads to Stamper betraying Urquhart, attempting to leak FU's recorded confession to the police and being killed in a car bomb before he can do so. By contrast, Doug Stamper is ruthless, pragmatic and undyingly loyal to the Underwoods (except when Rachel gets involved, and there's more there going on than simple betrayal).
• The Alcoholic: Doug has been sober for fifteen years, but in accordance with the AA program, he still considers himself to be one. He admits in an AA meeting that his infatuation with Rachel Posner is "dry drunk" behavior, and that it feels unquenchable in the same way as his drinking did.
• Badass Boast: His speech at Alcoholics Anonymous is one, not made toward a specific person but more toward his own flaws.
• Badass Bureaucrat: Quite the intrigant. Doug is a senior staffer who successfully deals with political giants on a daily basis. He also has some physical skill and high pain tolerance, disarming an assailant with a knife easily, using a wooden spoon as a makeshift splint when he dislocates his wrist and pinning a certain weaselly subordinate to the ground. However, when he's clocked with a rock, his recovery is a long, agonizing process that forces him to use a cane for a time.
• Bald of Evil: Well, on his way to bald. He is, after all, Frank's right hand.
• Child Supplants Parent: His feelings toward Rachel are...complex. He views her as a daughter, mother and lover.
  Doug: I work hard. I keep things simple. I know what my priorities are. But there's this, this person. She's not even in my life, except on the edges making things blurrier. It doesn't tempt me to drink. It's more like she...more like she feels what it was like when I was drinking. When I couldn't get enough. No matter how many drinks I had, I wanted another. I don't want to be with her. I mean, I do. But it's more like she's my daughter. Or my mother. I don't know, this is fucked up.
• Crazy Jealous Guy: He's suspicious of anyone that grows close to the Underwoods and is quick to warn the couple they can't be trusted.
• Consummate Professional: Doug's entire life is his job, running a schedule from 7:30am to very late at night. He's always on hand when Frank needs him, regardless of the time. True to his mentor Frank, Doug is cold, calculating and brutally efficient. He also has no problem getting his hands dirty. In Season 2, however, his professional edge takes a noticeable slip as his obsession with Rachel reaches new heights. Things only get worse from there.
  Doug: Nothing means more to me than this job, sir. Nothing.
• The Determinator: After recovering from his injuries inflicted by Rachel when she tried to kill him, his first day back starts off poorly with him dislocating his wrist after slipping in the shower. Instead, he creates a makeshift splint using duct tape and a wooden spoon, and hides it from his colleagues.
• The Dragon: To Frank, to whom he demonstrates solid loyalty and carries out his every command without complaint. It's more prominent in Season 1, but he starts to compete with Seth Grayson for the role of dragon in Season 2.
• Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Though he tries his best to hide it, he seems to really care about his brother Gary and his niece and nephew.
• Fall Guy: Becomes one for Frank willingly at the end of season 5, but is less willing in season 6.
• Fourth-Wall Observer: Late in season six.
• Hair-Trigger Temper: Stamper isn't anywhere near as composed as he appears to be; with each passing season, it becomes increasingly clear that he's on the verge of going absolutely batshit at any given moment.
• Has a Type: Brunettes. More specifically, brunettes whose lives he has ruined due to following Frank's orders. Such as Rachel and the widow of the man who Doug had replaced on the transplant list when Frank needed a liver, following his near-assassination.
• Here We Go Again!: With Rachel dead and buried, Stamper makes the effort to fill his creepy fascination fix with the widow of the man who was denied a liver transplant in favor of Frank.
• Kavorka Man: Despite being balding and middle aged, and having the demeanor of a creepy, emotionless robot, Doug manages to get laid at least once per season. In Season 1 with Rachel, via prostitution. Season 2 sees him sleep with the attractive waitress at the Adaho Gaming Casino. Season 3 has Doug manage to bed his physical therapist, who bears a passing resemblance to Rachel. Season 4 sees him romance the widow of the man he had bumped from the organ transplant list to save Frank and in Season 5 he sleeps with LeAnn Harvey despite the friction between them all season.
• Kick the Dog: His treatment of Rachel is humanizing at first, and could even be considered a Pet the Dog moment, but in Season 2 he grows increasingly obsessed with her. Doug goes from caring and business-like in to stalking and possessive, taking control of her life. He even goes so far as to make veiled threats to Rachel Posner directed at her new girlfriend, purely out of jealousy. In Season 3, he eventually hunts her down and kills her months after she wounded him and escaped.
• Kicked Up Stairs: Gets offended when a Senator offers him a similar job he had with Frank for more money in Season 3. He suspects that Frank or Seth is trying to ditch him. He's right, but it was Frank who made the call to the Senator.
• Informed Attribute: Doug is apparently the ultimate Washington insider, with connections and dirt on everybody in the US government, and is a superlative networker and people person. However, in his interactions with everyone, including Frank, Claire, and his own family, he comes off as grim and hardassed at best, and sociopathic and antisocial at worst.
• Insane Troll Logic: In Season 3, he offers to sell the journal telling the truth about Claire's abortions to Dunbar. When Frank finds out, Doug goes to him and burns the page of the journal with the evidence in front of his eyes. Frank asks why Doug kept the journal all this time, and Doug says he thought it might come in handy some day to prove his loyalty. His loyalty that Frank had never questioned until he found out Doug still had the journal and had made the deal with Dunbar.
• My Master, Right or Wrong: Doug is visibly shaken when Frank halfway admits to him that he killed Russo. He does, however, obey Frank's order to never bring it up again without any protests.
• Neat Freak: Everything in Doug's apartment is clean and in perfect order. You might think this is a response to his alcoholism (order in personal life to get away from disorder of drunkenness), but apparently he's always been that way: his brother messed with Doug by leaving one sock out in the middle of the room during the year they lived together.
• Off the Wagon: He gradually slips towards this throughout Season 2 with his obsession with Rachel, and Season 3 has him finally falling completely into this.
• Organ Theft: He has the recipient list manipulated to ensure Frank gets a live-saving liver transplant in time.
• Pet the Dog:
  • Giving Rachel money, then telling her she doesn't have to sell herself anymore when she begins to take off her clothes in response. He's actually pretty nice to Rachel in general. Well, to start with, anyway.
  • He makes a very generous donation to the family of the man who died due to Doug's doctoring with the liver recipient list. Although, similar to Rachel's case, it's actually a tie between Doug being genuinely nice and Doug being creepily attracted to the widow.
  • He strangles Seth by holding a drink glass over his mouth and holds his nose closed, demanding his loyalty, then when Seth is about to leave offers him a drink. Seth is disgusted by his insanity and calls him sick.
• Right for the Wrong Reasons: Late in Season 5, with the media hounding them during a sensitive political time, Frank and Claire convince Doug to take the blame for the murder of Zoe Barnes. Doug is aghast at first but ends up voluntarily going along with the plan. While he is innocent of murdering Zoe, his false confession and insistence on being imprisoned for the crime seems to be his way of facing justice for his murder of Rachel.
• Romancing the Widow: In Season 4 he develops an odd crush on the widow of the man who, thanks to Doug, got passed over on the liver recipient list to save Frank and eventually gets closer to her in a small subplot. In season 5 it turns out she had figured out Doug's role in her husband's death long ago and their relationship has always been a hatefuck arrangement on her part.
• Sanity Slippage: Over the course of Season 2 and 3, the usually emotionless and logical Stamper loses his shit. He hunts for Rachel obsessively, and genuinely grieves when he's led to believe she's dead. Then he goes and kidnaps her after finding out she's still alive with the apparent intent to kill her himself.
• Sibling Yin-Yang: The yin to his brother's yang. Gary Stamper is the complete opposite in personality. While Doug is cold and distant, his brother is warm and inviting. While Doug lives alone and prefers it that way, his brother is happily married with children. While Doug suffers from many addictions and mental issues, he brother seems to be mentally stable and free of any addictions. Though it's revealed toward the end of the Season that he might be a neat freak.
• Suspiciously Similar Substitute: To Russo, in Season 2, when Frank exploits his loyalty and his addiction to manipulate him. Fortunately for him, it doesn't lead to the same end as Russo.
• Tritagonist: Somewhere in season two onward, he is this, getting the most consistent focus in the main cast barring Frank and Claire.
  • In season six, with Frank out of the way and Claire becoming The Protagonist, Doug takes the reigns as the Deuteragonist. He even starts to break the fourth wall.
• Undying Loyalty: To Frank, who he obeys without question. In Season 5, he even agrees to be the scapegoat for the murder of Zoe Barnes.
  • Taken to extremes in Season 6 where he is revealed to have murdered Frank to stop him from destroying his legacy by attempting to kill Claire.
• Villain Ball: The way he handles Rachel involves one long run with it. Doug begins to fall apart entirely by fixating on Rachel and it eventually gets him nearly killed. It's out of character for a man so ruthless about tying up loose ends, but justified by his tangled feelings toward her.
• Villainous Breakdown: He has a few scattered across the series.
• What You Are in the Dark: Played straight then immediately subverted in the Season 3 finale.
• Worst Aid: Following his rehabilitation, he attempts to mend a broken arm using a spoon and duct tape.
• Yank the Dog's Chain: After a heartfelt conversation with Rachel, he agrees to cut her loose and set her free to begin her new life. After driving away, he then stops, changes his mind, and turns around. Rachel has just enough time to see him speeding toward her in his van. Pretty cruel, Doug.

Remy

Remy Danton, former White House Chief of Staff

"Power is better than money, for as long as it lasts. But it never lasts."

Portrayed By: Mahershala Ali

"Such a waste of talent. [Remy] chose money over power, in this town a mistake nearly everyone makes."

— Frank Underwood

Frank's former press secretary who now works as a political lobbyist. He serves as the middleman between politicians (notably Frank) and his clients (notably the multi-billion dollar energy conglomerate Sancorp). Still uses Frank as a contact when there's a deal to be made that profits his bosses.

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• Affably Evil: Unfailingly soft-spoken and polite. It doesn't matter if he's making friendly small-talk or intimidating a congressman, Remy is always gentle and charming.
• Amoral Attorney: He's a partner at Glendon Hill, which represents several corporations.
• Ambition Is Evil: However, Frank points out that he made a mistake by choosing money over power.
• The Dragon: After mostly serving as the voice of Sancorp, an oil conglomerate, during season one, Remy moves on to directly work for Raymond Tusk in season two, as Tusk has bought shares of Sancorp. As the season goes on, he seems to chafe under the demands of working for one demanding person with an ever-shifting agenda and resents being treated as "a henchman." Later becomes Frank Underwood's second in command instead of the injured Stamper in Season 3.
• Even Evil Has Standards: Despite being a corruptible business man, Remy doesn't believe in screwing around with multiple woman, and only gets involved with a woman if it's serious.
• Greed: Remy chose money over real power.
• I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: Tries this all during Season 3, after Jackie gets married to a Nice Guy to further her career. The two start having an affair by the season 3 finale, and then decide to run off together after agreeing to go on record with Tom Hammerschmidt.
• Mistreatment-Induced Betrayal: He claims that he left Frank's employ because he felt unappreciated and used. This happens again in Season 3.
• Mouth of Sauron: Serves as this for SanCorp.
• N-Word Privileges: In Season 3 after getting in trouble for speeding and forgetting his wallet to the car, Remy remarks to Jackie that the officer got suspicious because he "saw a nigger in a nice car". It's implied that despite his position of money and power, Remy feels some people will always view him as second-rate due to his skin color. His scene with Freddy, when they briefly bond over being treated by Frank like pawns, furthers this view.
• Only in It for the Money: And he has no problem letting people know it, especially when talking to Frank.
  • He himself brings up an interesting point of view in season two. When first introduced, Frank sees him making the mistake of trading the eternal "stone building" of power for the "McMansion" of money. When Remy touches on the subject, he says that he sees power as the more temporary of the two, as the most powerful man can be rendered powerless in a heartbeat.
  • Subverted in Season 4. Remy no longer sees money as the most important thing in the world after falling in love with Jackie.
• A Pupil of Mine Until He Turned to Evil: As far as Frank is concerned, but Remy doesn't see it that way. Being a pupil of Frank isn't exactly the priesthood either.
• Really Gets Around: Subverted. He flaunts his money and status to attract women, but he only gets involved with a woman if a serious relationship is possible from it.
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here: As Season 3 concludes, he has finally had enough of Frank and leaves his position.
• Self-Serving Memory: In Season 4, he tells Tom Hammerschmidt about Freddy's closed barbecue joint, and that what happened to it is "the same thing that happens to everything Frank touches". Apparently, Remy has also forgotten that a major reason Freddy's closed was because he had told the press about the place as part of a plot Tusk had against Frank.
• Social Climber: Heavily implied. He also prefers the company of women of his own social status.

Cabinet

Cathy

Catherine "Cathy" Durant, Secretary of State

"Sometimes my delegates try to read between the lines. They know that I need plausible deniability, but diplomatic purpose."

Portrayed By: Jayne Atkinson

A Senator from Louisiana who becomes Secretary of State after Frank brings about the downfall of Michael Kern.

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• Bullying a Dragon: In the latter half of Season 4, she starts to wizen up to Frank's machinations and fight back, telling him she isn't intimidated by him. However, then Frank clues her in that Lucas Goodwin's accusations are true; he killed Peter Russo and Zoe Barnes, and if it was necessary he would kill anyone that got in his way. Durant quickly backs down when she realizes Frank is more dangerous than she thought.
• Cool Old Lady: Like most experienced politicians, she'd in her older years. She's also whip-smart and tough enough to clash with the most powerful people in the world.
• Death by Falling Over: At the end of season 5, Frank has her "take a fall for [his] administration". It's uncertain if she'll survive, but the intention was very clear.
• Dude, Where's My Respect?: She constantly gets sidelined in Season 4, first by Claire and Acting President Blythe during the Russian energy crisis, then at the national convention when Frank and Claire use her as smoke screen to get Claire as the VP candidate instead of her. She finally has enough of it and bites back by challenging Frank for the presidential nomination.
  "Oh, come on, Frank. I've had a front row seat to everything since the day Walker took office, all the lies and betrayals, and I helped you. My mistake was I assumed you wouldn't stab me in the back. Your mistake is that it backfired."
• Et Tu, Brute?: Frank Underwood was one thing, but when she realizes that her old friend Jane Davis is about to set her up for a dirt nap, Cathy is downright heartbroken. After Cathy escapes her would-be assassination, she calls Jane and tells her as a warning AND a threat that she chose the wrong side.
• Iron Lady: She might be as easily manipulated by Frank as anyone, but there's no shame in that and there's no denying Durant is one tough lady who isn't easily intimidated.
• It's Personal: She denies it, but it's very clear that her rebellion against Frank is due to how she's mistreated, mishandled and relegated to a pawn.
• Know When to Fold 'Em: After Frank not-too subtly hints that he's far more dangerous then he previous let slip, she withdraws her candidacy at the convention and quietly goes back to being Secretary of State.
• Oh, Crap!: She realizes that she's in way over her head after Frank's Sarcastic Confession that Lucas Goodwin was telling the truth, he really is a violent murderer who will crush anyone standing in his way.
• No Celebrities Were Harmed: She seems to be based on Hillary Clinton; she actively opposed the sitting President during the primaries, and later she would be promoted to Secretary of State. She even somewhat resembles Clinton in appearance.
  • Jayne Atkinson similarly played New York Senator Melanie Carver on Law & Order.
  • As a former Democratic senator from Louisiana, she also bears a political and physical resemblance to Mary Landrieu.

Kern

Michael Kern, Secretary of the Treasury

Portrayed By: Kevin Kilner

A Senator from Colorado and Walker's original choice for the position of Secretary of State. Made Secretary of the Treasury by the newly-sworn in Frank at the end of Season 2.

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• No Celebrities Were Harmed: Respected, craggy-faced, patrician Senator with a sort of hippy-ish past. Just like John Kerry.
• Open Mouth, Insert Foot: Kern's nomination to Secretary of State is railroaded as much by his own politically careless statements as it is by Frank Underwood's sabotage.
• Composite Character: He appears to be somewhat based on Michael Samuels of the original series.

Other Underwood Allies

Meechum

Edward H. Meechum

Portrayed By: Nathan Darrow

A member of the US Capitol Police and Underwood's bodyguard and driver.

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• The Corruptible: Meechum is slowly but easily swayed to become immensely loyal to Frank, due to Frank's power, his own sense of professionalism and his basically passive, eager-to-please nature.
• Determinator: Manages to shoot and kill Lucas in the roughly three second window he had between taking a pair of bullets for Frank and bleeding to death on the pavement..
• Dirty Cop: After Meechum's death, Tom Hammerschmidt finds evidence that Meechum doctored travel records to cover up some of Frank's movements.
• Death by Adaptation: His British counterpart, Commander Corder, survived all three series and is last seen working for Francis Urquhart's successor. Meechum dies protecting Frank Underwood in an assassination attempt from Lucas Goodwin halfway through the fourth season.
• Heroic Sacrifice: He takes a fatal bullet when Lucas Goodwin attempts to assassinate Frank.
• Like a Son to Me: It's clear that Frank has come view Meechum in this manner; being one of the VERY few Frank doesn't screw over.
• The Resenter: Shows very passive-aggressive hints of this toward Tom Yates in Season Three, when he starts becoming more involved in the Underwoods lives.
• Mauve Shirt: After many years of service for the Underwoods he eventually takes a fatal bullet for Frank.
• Semper Fi: Retired Marine, he served in Afghanistan.
• Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Back when Underwood was only Chief Whip. He doctored travel records to cover up Frank's movements to Zoe Barnes house. This is the first lead that Hammerschmidt successfully finds.

Tom

Thomas "Tom" Yates

"Nobody cares about an idea. They might care about a man with an idea. I only care about the man."

Portrayed By: Paul Sparks

"I think it may be the best thing I've written in years. It could also be utter and complete shit. But when I can't tell the difference, that's a good sign."

A best selling author who Frank hires to write a novel about his ambitious jobs program called America Works, as part of his official 2016 Presidential run strategy in Season 3. Things get complicated when Yates reveals himself to be more than meets the eye.

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• Blue-and-Orange Morality: Yates has a past of serving as a male prostitute to get more stories and calls his 'addiction' and seems to be unable to understand why on Earth a politician who hired him to write a propaganda book wouldn't want a story about a toxic relationship between him and his wife released instead.
• The Charmer: Yates has ways of getting people to trust him and open up to him in ways they would never do with other people. Even Claire who doesn't trust him at first, submits to his charms and reveals that she has thoughts of suicide to free herself from Frank. In Season 4, he is able to make Claire's mother laugh for the first time in years before she dies. This results in Claire getting closer and starting a sexual relationship with Yates, with Frank's blessing.
• Hot Consort: With Frank's blessing he becomes one for Claire in season 4.
• Multiple-Choice Past: Regarding the circumstances of creating his first book. First he says that is just a fiction loosely based on a friend's stories, then that he stole said friend's unfinished book after the original author's suicide, and then confesses he is the author after all and it's based on his own experiences as a prostitute.
• One-Steve Limit: Averted, he goes by 'Tom', just like Tom Hammerschmidt.
• Out with a Bang: Claire murders him with poison which kicks in while they're going at it one last time.
• Sherlock Scan: Because of his past as a male prostitute who listened to many client's life stories, Yates is able to look at people and make accurate guesses about their personal issues. This is the reason Frank initially cuts Yates loose after reading his official first chapter of his book, because it hit too close to home.
• This Is Unforgivable!: How Yates feels after Frank fired him, just when he discovered how he wanted to write his new book. He makes it clear that he still plans to finish the book somehow at the end of Season 3.
• Write Who You Know: In-Universe. Debated; see Multiple-Choice Past. He's also determined to find the "true axis" of Franks character, much to the latter's (who would like his propaganda book finally ready) annoyance.

LeAnn

LeAnn Harvey

Portrayed By: Neve Campbell

A Texan political consultant that becomes Claire's ally.

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• Ambiguously Bi: Semi-jokingly admits she experimented with a sorority sister when Doug grills her on any dark, blackmailable secrets she might have.
• Amicable Exes: With Aidan, despite the somewhat morally dubious nature of their relationship.
• Character Death: Is killed in the finale of season 5.
• The Dragon: To Claire, for a time.
• Every Car Is a Pinto: Her car blows up during the wreck that kills her.
• The Evil Genius: After Frank and Claire reunite, Leann joins Team Underwood as a formidable consultant with a dangerous intellect.
• Experimented in College: She mentions that the only "dirt" that exists on her are a few same-sex flings in college.
• Likes Older Men: She's been involved with both Aidan and Doug. Although her relationship with Doug may have been motivated by self-preservation.
• May–December Romance: LeAnn had an affair with Macallan when she was only a teenager even though he's got to be at least a decade older than her. The two of them are still affectionate towards each other.
• You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: Zigzagged. Claire actually disagreed with Frank bumping her off; finding it to be unneccesary as it was wasteful. Frank still goes through it unfortunately.
• Out of Focus: After her death, nobody mentions her again except Doug, who doesn't refer to her by name.

Nancy

Nancy Kaufberger

Portrayed By: Elizabeth Norment

A secretary to Frank Underwood and Doug Stamper. Later the secretary to Jackie Sharp.

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• Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: Elizabeth Norment died in October 2014. Her character's fate remains unclear, and likely won't be addressed.
• Token Good Teammate: Nancy doesn't appear to have any idea of Frank's (mis)deeds, and merely knows him as a pleasant but hard-working boss. For his part, Frank seems to hold her in some esteem.

Aidan

Aidan Macallan

Portrayed By: Damian Young

A middle-aged expert hacker and data scientist and a close friend of LeAnn.

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• Amicable Exes: With Le Ann.
• Character Death: Ultimately dies for being part of the Underwoods' shifty scheme.
• The Cracker: He's contacted by LeAnn to hack into the NSA to commit electoral fraud and aid the Underwoods' strategy to remain in the White House.
• Insufferable Genius: Is one for sure, although Le Ann can put up with him.
• No Celebrities Were Harmed: Clearly based on Edward Snowden.

Connor

Connor Ellis

Played By: Samuel Page

A smooth talking media consultant who becomes Communications Director for Claire Underwood.

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• Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: Never seen or mentioned after joining Claire's campaign.

Mark

Mark Usher

Played By: Campbell Scott

A fixer of sorts who becomes a Special Advisor to the President.

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• The Consigliere: He acted as Conway's top advisor during the last part of the presidential campaign.
• Dragon with an Agenda: Frank has some distrust of Usher because he sees him as one of these. Indeed, Usher worked for the Conway campaign but actually wanted General Brockhart to be The Man Behind the Man and jumped ship when Frank got audios to ruin both men.
• The Fixer: His main role.
• Playing Both Sides: Usher is very independent, and only backs those who are winning.

Jane

Jane Davis

Played By: Patricia Clarkson

The United States Deputy Undersecretary of Commerce for International Trade and a close friend of Cathy Durant. She becomes an important asset of the Underwoods.

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• Almighty Janitor: Despite holding a middle rank position in the United States government, she's actually a formidable power player and information broker with deep and important connections among Private Military Contractors in the Middle East.
• Bunny-Ears Lawyer: Jane has a rather odd personality, also mentioning she suffers from claustrophobia as a result of getting over her fear of flying in airplanes.
• The Fixer: Fills this role for Claire thanks to her connections in the private security sector.
• Number Two: She's one to whoever is the Undersecretary of Commerce for International Trade

Family Members

Elizabeth

Elizabeth Constance Hale

Portrayed By: Ellen Burstyn

"You know, when she got married, I was sure she would wake up in a year or two. I had no idea it was gonna take her thirty."

Claire's mother.

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• Heroic Sacrifice: She chooses to go through assisted suicide rather than a drawn-out natural death, as she knows it's inevitable either way and her death will help Claire win the vice-president nomination at the DNC.
• Jerkass Has a Point: She and her friends declare that Frank doesn't deserve to be President, and wants Claire to start her own career separate from him. She's not wrong on either count, but her beliefs have less to do with Frank being a murdering backstabbing bastard, and more to do with his low social roots that in her eyes make him unfit for the office or her daughter.
• Like Mother, Like Daughter: It quickly becomes clear where Claire got both her cold, conniving personality and her impeccable looks from.
• Obnoxious In-Laws: Unlike her late husband, she has never accepted Frank as her son-in-law. Not because he is, well, evil, but because of his initial low social status. And even though Frank is far from a saint, wishing death upon him after he gets shot is kinda pushing it.
  Elizabeth: You know, when [Claire] first got married, I thought she was going to wake up in a year or two. I had no idea it'd take her 30.
• Rich Bitch: The Hale family is a wealthy dynasty of Texan ranchers. Thus Elizabeth still looks down upon Frank, even after he became President and made her daughter First Lady.
• Secretly Dying: She's dying from lymphoma, which she's kept a secret from Claire and others for all this time.

Calvin

Calvin T. Underwood

Portrayed By: N/A

Frank's father, now deceased.

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• The Ghost: Mentioned infrequently, but has never been seen yet.
• Heroic Sacrifice: With crushing poverty on the horizon, he put food on the table the only way he could, by attending a meeting of the local Ku Klux Klan to get friendly with the bank president, and even having his picture taken at it. Frank still keeps that picture despite the enormous political risk it carries, because it was the one time he was actually proud of his father.
• Old Shame: In-universe, Frank is horribly ashamed of his father, for both good and bad reasons. Frank hated him because he saw him as a spineless coward, but it's his connection to the Ku Klux Klan that threatens Frank's presidency from the grave.
• Speak Ill of the Dead: Frank doesn't think highly of his father, reflecting that he was "just taking up space," and he doesn't miss him.