In a post-Frank Underwood world, Claire is in power but the show still looks as if it’s going to suffer from its biggest flaw: the lack of a worthy opponent
Two men stalk through through the halls of the White House with serious intent. A West Wing office bustles with activity that borders on panic. Another corridor, more action. A woman briskly issues commands into her phone. All is movement. And then, as we enter the Oval Office, serenity. The president of the United States swings around to meet us head-on. “Hoo boy!” she yells. “Were you worried I’d still be Kevin Spacey? Yeesh! I mean, Kevin Spacey, huh? Yuck-a-doodle-doo! Am I right, guys?”
From Veep to House of Cards: what to expect from TV shows ending in 2018 Read more
Except she doesn’t. Instead, she stands up and says “We’re just getting started”. Welcome to the first trailer for the final, Spacey-less series of House of Cards.
As trailers go, this could not have been more generic if it had just been a close-up of a flag fluttering in the breeze. House of Cards could not have played this any safer if it tried. But, seriously, can you blame it? House of Cards is still incredibly important to Netflix. As its first original series, the show stands as a monument to the company’s cable-challenging intent. It is expensive and prestigious and it drips with talent. Forget the fact that it hasn’t been much cop for years, because House of Cards is still a big deal.
And yet things have never been so precarious. The removal of Kevin Spacey, following a raft of allegations that in all likelihood have sunk his career for ever, has left a void at the centre of House of Cards. Frank Underwood was the show’s dark heart. As he slashed and seduced and murdered his way to power, we were right there with him. He would turn and chat to us during his worst moments. He made us complicit in his wrongdoing. House of Cards was him and us, and everything else was window dressing.
But now some of that window dressing has been turned into a centrepiece. Thanks to a fortunate quirk of narrative – last we saw of her, she was addressing the camera just like her husband – the last series of House of Cards ended with Robin Wright’s Claire Underwood in power. That might mean that she will get to play the lead this time around. But it also means that House of Cards has once again run into its most common problem. She doesn’t have a worthy opponent.
The way the last run was set up, this year’s series was going to be a spectacular bad-blooded showdown between the Underwoods. It was going to be where their thirst for power, which had united them for so long, would finally splinter and destroy them for good. But that won’t be the case any longer, so instead it is likely to be another tedious wet fart of listless, uninvested, one-note political manoeuvring that is happy to spin its wheels for hours at a time until the audience congratulates itself for finally reaching the end. Business as usual. Meet the new boss, same as the old boss.
At least this is definitely the last we will see of House of Cards, though. It will limp to the finish line, exhausted and deformed, and then it will be over for ever. All of which makes Wright’s “We’re just getting started” line feel like an empty threat. Perhaps she should have said “Eight more episodes and then you can rewatch Stranger Things”.
The trailer could have been worse. They could have overdone Wright’s gender. The tagline “Hail to the chief” could have quite easily boiled over and become “Yaaas Queen” or “Please rise for the Bra-Spangled Banner”.
But it could have been better, too. The technology now exists to graft Kevin Spacey’s face onto another actor’s body, so perhaps this trailer should have been a montage of Frank Underwood dying in a number of hilarious ways. He could drive his car off a cliff, say, or get hit in the face by a goose on a rollrcoaster, just like Fabio. He could be shot out of a cannon or crushed by a falling piano. He could slip on a banana skin and trip into a log-chipper. The possibilities are endless. And all of them would have got me excited for House of Cards. As things stand, consider me unmoved.
Sunday’s Oscars mark the end of an awards season that supported the Time’s Up initiative in response to the #MeToo movement that picked up steam in October when the New York Times published numerous allegations of sexual misconduct from eight women against entertainment mogul Harvey Weinstein. The story inspired other victims to come forward, with Kevin Spacey becoming one of the dozens of men to be on the receiving end of accusations of inappropriate sexual behavior.
Weinstein Andreas Rentz/Getty
RELATED: Oscars 2018 Nominations: Get Out and Lady Bird Score Big
But now that those men have been rejected by Hollywood —Weinstein lost his job and the Weinstein Co. plans to file for bankruptcy; Spacey will no longer lead Netflix’s House of Cards and his role in All the Money in the World was reshot— their awards season glory has waned as well.
Be sure to check out PEOPLE’s full Academy Awards coverage to get the latest news on Hollywood’s big night.
RELATED: Why Anthony Rapp Revealed Kevin Spacey’s Alleged Sexual Advances: ‘I Wanted to Shine a Light’
In light of the actors’ absence from the ceremony on Sunday, Macaulay Culkin joked on Twitter that Weinstein, 65, and Spacey, 58, attempted to crash the Oscars in Los Angeles.
“EXCLUSIVE: I heard Kevin Spacey and Harvey Weinstein were going to come disguised as a very tall man in a long trench coat but they got busted by security. #Oscars,” the Home Alone star, 37, wrote.
EXCLUSIVE: I heard Kevin Spacey and Harvey Weinstein were going to come disguised as a very tall man in a long trench coat but they got busted by security. #Oscars — Macaulay Culkin (@IncredibleCulk) March 4, 2018
To donate to the Time’s Up Legal Defense Fund, which will provide subsidized legal support to women and men in all industries who have experienced sexual harassment, assault, or abuse in the workplace, visit its GoFundMe page. Learn more about Time’s Up, an organization of women in entertainment combating sexual harassment and inequality, on its website.
Spacey David M Benett/Dave Benett/Getty
Spacey starred in Baby Driver, which received nominations in the film editing, sound editing and sound mixing categories. However, neither Spacey nor Weinstein have been reported on the Oscars grounds.
RELATED: James Franco Out! Greta Gerwig In! Biggest Surprises and Snubs of 2018 Oscar Nominations
Culkin skipped the Academy Awards, too, sharing on Twitter that he was cooking dinner at home— and composing his script for the next Emoji Movie — while still dressed for the occasion.
“Here’s some things I’m doing instead of watching the #oscars,” he tweeted Sunday. “1. Making ramen”
Here’s some things I’m doing instead of watching the #oscars 1. Making ramen pic.twitter.com/gPL0DDtHVP — Macaulay Culkin (@IncredibleCulk) March 4, 2018
The 2018 Oscars ceremony will be held at the Dolby Theatre at Hollywood & Highland Center on March 4 and will be televised live on ABC at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT.
The New York Times launched a Twitter zinger at actor Kevin Spacey during the Oscars’ red-carpet procession on Sunday.
Nice to see Kevin Spacey on the red carpet https://t.co/YBPk2kpWRA pic.twitter.com/EXxdqc7sEI — NYT Styles (@NYTStyles) March 4, 2018
Some got it, and appeared to appreciate the burn.
To a few others, it looked at first glance like the Times would have to issue one of its famous corrections because, well, the man pictured is Christopher Plummer. But noooooo. This was Grade-A dissing.
Spacey, of course, did not attend the Academy Awards. He faces multiple accusations of sexual misconduct, and was replaced by Plummer in reshoots after the film “All The Money In The World” was finished. The 88-year-old Plummer then went on to become the oldest man to earn an Oscar nomination for best supporting actor in his portrayal of J. Paul Getty.
He didn’t win Sunday, but the Times got to post a winner of an insult.
Jön az utolsó évad, amelyben Robin Wright veszi át a stafétát főszereplőként.
Mint ismert, a Kevin Spacey körül kirobbant zaklatási botrány miatt a Netflix tavaly bejelentette, hogy megszakít minden kapcsolatot a színésszel és nélküle folytatják a Kártyavár című drámasorozatot.
A nagy sikerű széria hatodik, egyben utolsó évadát azóta elkezdték forgatni és a magyar idő szerint éjjel rendezett 90. Oscar-gála alatt közzétették az első előzetesét. A rövid kedvcsinálóban lényegében nem történik más, mint beköszön a Fehér Házból a főszerepet megöröklő Robin Wright , aki a sorozat 2013-as indulása óta a Spacey által megformált Frank Underwood feleségét, Claire Underwoodot alakítja.
A Wright mellett a Michael Kelly , Diane Lane , Greg Kinnear , Jayne Atkinson , Patricia Clarkson , Cody Fern , Constance Zimmer és Derek Cecil alkotta szereplőgárdával készülő Kártyavár tizenhárom részes utolsó évada várhatóan az ősszel fog megérkezni a Netflixre.
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