History WMG / HouseOfCardsUS

[[WMG: The first five seasons of ''House Of Cards'' is set in the same universe as other shows and even films.]]

- ''Where Eagles Dare''

- ''The Shield''

- ''Deathwatch''

- ''Breaking Bad'', ''Better Call Saul'' and ''El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie''

- ''Chronicle''

- ''Sons Of Anarchy'' and ''Mayans MC''

- ''Keeper Of The Lost Cities'' Book Series

- ''Transformers Prime'' and ''Transformers Prime Beast Hunters: Predacons Rising''

- ''Castlevania'' (Netflix Series)

- ''Overlord''

- ''The Last Duel''

In this canon where the sixth and final season of the show didn't happen, Frank Underwood is in hiding after the events of the S5 finale and is now a cynical and sarcastic lumberjack with a shoddy beard who's haunted by his actions, specifically killing Peter Russo and Zoe Barnes, now that it was all for nothing.

[[WMG: The first five seasons of House Of Cards is set in the same universe as ''The Shield'', ''Breaking Bad'', ''Sons Of Anarchy'', ''Transformers Prime'', ''Better Call Saul'' and ''Mayans MC''.]]

[[WMG: House of Cards takes place in the same universe as ''VideoGame/DarkSouls''.]]
I admit, I don't have anything to back this up, but It came to me in a dream and I believe it.
* Frank is [[spoiler: basically in hell and is doomed to repeat his life cycle until he's willing to accept defeat and let go, trapping everyone else along with him]]?

[[WMG: The first five seasons of ''House Of Cards'' is set in the same universe as other shows.]]

*** Perhaps the inferred "Bush Junior" is Walker's immediate predecessor as President. It doesn't necessarily have to be UsefulNotes/GeorgeWBush either -- it could be Jeb Bush, succeeding in 2004/2008 where his brother failed in 2000. Another possibility is that John [=McCain=] was the Republican candidate in 2000 in this timeline, who lost to Gore, freeing up either Bush brother to succeed Gore later.

Conversely, it is entirely in character for the show to end up with TheBadGuyWins. It's depressing, sure, but all the Underwood's innumerable victories ''still'' haven't driven voters away with DarknessInducedAudienceApathy -- and if anything, the BileFascination of RootingForTheEmpire has only ''increased''. And on a meta level, would the show really follow up Kevin Spacey's firing over sexual misconduct allegations by torpedoing the female VillainProtagonist after just one season of unambiguously holding the spotlight?

The show's order of presidents corresponds to Real Life up until George W. Bush, and since Walker is a Democrat elected in 2012, we can assume that the 44th president in the show's universe was a Republican (let's assume John [=McCain=], to keep things corresponding to real-life). So how did [=McCain=] win in the show's timeline, despite Bush's massive unpopularity (and thus the unpopularity of the Republican party as a whole at the time) and Barack Obama being a young, charismatic, and exciting figure promising the "hope and change" that American craved at the time? Simple, Obama wasn't the nominee, for one reason or another, and neither was Hillary Clinton; rather it was Edwards, who presumably would have been the frontrunner without Obama and Clinton in the race and whose anti-poverty populist rhetoric would strike a chord due to the looming financial crisis. [=McCain=] managed a victory due to the massive controversy regarding Edwards' extramarital affair that came to light after he won the nomination (this was what derailed his candidacy in real life as well). [=McCain=] goes onto largely continue the policies of Bush (as he presumably would have done if he'd won in real life), and gets defeated in 2012 by Garret Walker, the exciting figure in the show's timeline that Obama was in ours. This being the point of divergence also explains why the Democrats still have control over Congress at the beginning of the show, when Walker assumes the presidency.

The show's order of presidents corresponds to Real Life up until George W. Bush, and since Walker is a Democrat elected in 2012, we can assume that the 44th president in the show's universe was a Republican (let's assume John [=McCain=], to keep things corresponding to real-life). So how did [=McCain=] win in the show's timeline, despite Bush's massive unpopularity (and thus the unpopularity of the Republican party as a whole) and Barack Obama being a young, charismatic, and exciting figure promising the "hope and change" that American craved at the time? Simple, Obama wasn't the nominee, for one reason or the other, and neither was Hillary Clinton; rather it was Edwards, who presumably would have been the frontrunner without Obama and Clinton in the race and whose anti-poverty populist rhetoric would strike a chord due to the looming crisis. [=McCain=] managed a victory due to the massive controversy regarding Edwards' extramarital affair that came to light after he won the nomination (this was what derailed his candidacy in real life as well). [=McCain=] goes onto largely continue the policies of Bush (as he presumably would have done if he'd won in real life), and gets defeated in 2012 by Garret Walker, the exciting figure in the show's timeline that Obama was in ours. This being the point of divergence also explains why the Democrats still have control over Congress at the beginning of the show, when Walker assumes the presidency.

The show's order of presidents corresponds to Real Life up until George W. Bush, and since Walker is a Democrat elected in 2012, we can assume that the 44th president in the show's universe was a Republican (let's assume John [=McCain=], to keep things corresponding to real-life). So how did [=McCain=] win in the show's timeline, despite Bush's massive unpopularity (and thus the unpopularity of the Republican party as a whole) and Barack Obama being a young, charismatic, and exciting figure promising the "hope and change" that American craved at the time? Simple, Obama wasn't the nominee, for one reason or the other, and neither was Hillary Clinton; rather it was Edwards, and [=McCain=] managed a victory due to the massive controversy regarding Edwards' extramarital affair that came to light after he won the nomination (this was what derailed his candidacy in real life as well). [=McCain=] goes onto largely continue the policies of Bush (as he presumably would have done if he'd won in real life), and gets defeated in 2012 by Garret Walker, the exciting figure in the show's timeline that Obama was in ours. This being the point of divergence also explains why the Democrats still have control over Congress at the beginning of the show, when Walker assumes the presidency.

The show's order of presidents corresponds to Real Life up until [[UsefulNotes/George W. Bush]], and since Walker is a Democrat elected in 2012, we can assume that the 44th president in the show's universe was a Republican (let's assume John [=McCain=], to keep things corresponding to real-life). So how did [=McCain=] win in the show's timeline, despite Bush's massive unpopularity (and thus the unpopularity of the Republican party as a whole) and Barack Obama being a young, charismatic, and exciting figure promising the "hope and change" that American craved at the time? Simple, Obama wasn't the nominee, for one reason or the other, and neither was Hillary Clinton; rather it was Edwards, and [=McCain=] managed a victory due to the massive controversy regarding Edwards' extramarital affair that came to light after he won the nomination (this was what derailed his candidacy in real life as well). [=McCain=] goes onto largely continue the policies of Bush (as he presumably would have done if he'd won in real life), and gets defeated in 2012 by Garret Walker, the exciting figure in the show's timeline that Obama was in ours. This being the point of divergence also explains why the Democrats still have control over Congress at the beginning of the show, when Walker assumes the presidency.

At the end of season 5, [[spoiler: Claire is now President and addresses the audience for the first time, saying "it's my turn." This has been her true game ever since Frank took over and perhaps more than that. ''Everything'' that's been done has been part of Claire's calculated plot to become the first female President. She knew the lengths Frank would go to and also knew of the mistakes he'd make that could force him out of office. She manipulated him into seeing her as running mate being the only office for his own survival, not just her own and has been pulling the strings to ensure his fall came. Season 6 will have her explain things, with flashbacks, to reveal that while Frank thought he was in control, in truth, he was nothing more than a pawn to Claire in her plot to become President and thus reveal ''she'' is the true mastermind of the show.]]

BillClinton, in real life, was born 'William Jefferson Blythe III', and changed his last name to 'Clinton' at age 15 as a gesture toward his stepfather Roger Clinton. Donald Blythe is explicitly a Democrat, and his actor Reed Birney is about eight years younger than Clinton is. So my theory goes that in this alternate timeline, Donald Blythe is a cousin on Clinton's father's side.

At the end of season 5, [[spoiler: Claire is now President and addresses the audience for the first time, saying "it's my turn." This has been her true game ever since Frank took over and perhaps more than that. ''Everything'' that's been done has been part of Claire's calculated plot to become the first female President. Season 6 will have her explain things, with flashbacks, to reveal that while Frank thought he was in control, in truth, he was nothing more than a pawn to Claire in her plot to become President and thus reveal ''she'' is the true mastermind of the show.]]

He can't die until he writes a rough draft at the very least, not that it [[KilledMidSentence guarantees his safety]] or even that anyone will actually read the book. Alternately, like ''Film/{{Goodfellas}}'' and ''Film/HeavenlyCreatures'' the asides are from court transcripts. [[spoiler: Claire can do it too because she's either a co-author or she's written her own book on the same time period.]]

[[WMG: Claire Underwood is hiding a secret past when she was known as [[ForrestGump Jenny]].]]