The year 2016 marks a very important presidential election for the U.S. No, not that presidential race, but the one that decides if Frank Underwood from Netflix's political drama House of Cards gets to remain in the Oval Office.
With the season four premiere of House of Cards only about a month away, Netflix has released several trailers, including this new one that begins with Underwood's chief of staff, Doug Stamper, digging a hole with a shovel.
Of course, this suggests that there's a body being buried (similar to Doug burying Rachel Posner last season), but then the clip shows Doug handing the shovel to Underwood while a team of reporters applaud. It seems that Frank has broken new ground, although, as usual, Doug gets tasked with doing most of Frank's dirty work, while Frank smiles for the camera.
Of course, things are never easy for Frank, even after he's lied, cheated, manipulated and killed his way into the White House. At the end of season three, his wife, Claire, left him, and season four might see a divorce hanging over Frank's head as he's stumping for president. The last woman who spurned him got pushed in front of a moving train, but Claire isn't just any woman: she's shown that she is just as devious as her husband.
"I could see Claire Underwood doing anything she wanted," said Kevin Spacey, who portrays Frank on the series, to Entertainment Weekly. "Frank better watch his step."
With 2016 also marking the year of a U.S. presidential election in the real world, the fourth season of House of Cards might seem even more relevant than ever.
"We are of the world," said executive producer Beau Willimon. "We're reading the same headlines you are. I'm sure those things will influence us in subliminal ways. But we're not trying to deliberately parallel what's going on in real life. And it would be a fool's errand to try because we're writing the season many, many months before it airs. So if we did that, it would feel really old."
House of Cards returns March 4 to Netflix.
