Claire Underwood’s reign is ready to begin. During Sunday night’s Oscars telecast, Netflix decided to spring a new House of Cards teaser on viewers everywhere, giving fans a glimpse into the show’s post-Kevin Spacey era.
The actor, who played evil politician Frank Underwood for five seasons on the devious drama, was expelled from the series (and Hollywood at large) after being accused of inappropriate behavior by Anthony Rapp, and then a succession of other men. Though Spacey said he did not remember the night of his alleged encounter with Rapp, he apologized for “what would have been deeply inappropriate drunken behavior.”
The claim swiftly led to Spacey getting dumped by his agency and publicist, and eventually Netflix. The streaming platform halted production on House of Cards,dashed its original plan for Season 6, and re-centered the story on Claire Underwood, played by Robin Wright—a decision the show should have made long ago, frankly.
As far as hasty re-writes go, the show’s writers seem to have landed on an elegant sweet spot for writing Spacey out of the show altogether—although it remains unclear whether they will kill off his character, or just push him off-screen. Either way, Underwood is spiraling and no longer in power. Claire is ruthless, and finally has the full support of the government behind her. There’s no telling what she might do to silence her horrible husband for good. House of Cards returns for its sixth and final season this fall.
The teaser is simple enough, giving a glimpse of aides and White House employees rushing around the office. We then arrive at the Oval, where Claire Underwood and her chic blonde bob are sitting with their back to the camera, like any good villain. She then whirls around, stands, and tents her fingers on the desk.
A premiere date for season 6 has yet to be announced, though the streaming giant promises “this fall.”
Michael Kelly, Diane Lane, Greg Kinnear, Jayne Atkinson, Patricia Clarkson, Cody Fern, Constance Zimmer, Derek Cecil, Campbell Scott, and Boris McGiver will also star, while Wright continues behind the camera as an executive producer.
Melissa James Gibson and Frank Pugliese will serve as showrunners as well as executive producers alongside David Fincher, Joshua Donen, Dana Brunetti, Eric Roth, Michael Dobbs, and Andrew Davies.
Watch the first footage above.
(Excerpts) Read More at: EW.com and VanityFair.com