House of Cards Season 5 is now available on Netflix. (Netflix)
House of Cards Season 5 was made available on Netflix on May 30th. A lot of hardcore fans are already finished with the 13-hour season, and they have now reached the shocking finale, in which Claire Underwood becomes president of the United States and Frank Underwood is exiled from the White House. Although Netflix has not ordered a sixth season, it’s safe to assume one is on the way. So given the way things wrapped up in Chapter 65, where might the show go from here?
It appears that the main thrust of House of Cards’ sixth season is going to be Claire Underwood serving as president while Frank Underwood attempts to sabotage her from the outside. After all, Claire by the end of Season 5 seems to have no intention of pardoning Frank, and as soon as he realizes that, he flat out promises to kill her. Given his history, it’s a legitimate question whether he’s speaking literally when he says that.
Much of Season 6, then, can focus on Frank and Claire being at odds, with Claire attempting to step out of the shadow of her husband all the while he conspires against her. This would call back to the early days of House of Cards, in which we followed Frank as he concocted an elaborate scheme to backstab those in power. As enjoyable as the past three seasons have been, the show certainly lost some of the magic of Season 1 as soon as Frank Underwood was sworn in as president and no longer had a clear goal that he was working towards. Now, Season 6 can return to that feeling.
Claire Underwood, meanwhile, will be attempting to deal with the threat of ICO, as well as the threats posted by Jane Davis, the newcomer in Season 5 who seems ready to betray Claire Underwood at any moment.
Tom Hammerschmidt’s investigation will likely make some major strides next year as well, as by the season finale, he is so ridiculously close to figuring out that Frank Underwood personally murdered Zoe Barnes by throwing her in front of a train.
It seems pretty clear that the final stretch of the show will see Frank Underwood’s titular house of cards collapsing as all of his crimes are revealed, but it’s hard to imagine this will be as satisfying to watch if he’s just an ordinary citizen when it happens. That’s why a lot of fans now believe there will be two more seasons. Season 6 will focus on Frank being at odds with Claire Underwood, but by the end of the season, they will be working together again. By Season 7, Frank Underwood will be back in the White House, and Tom Hammerschmidt will make some shocking discoveries that threaten to bring down the Underwood administration entirely.
House of Cards is expected to air its sixth season sometime in 2018.