Things to Do

The Trailer for the New Season of House of Cards Tells Us Almost Nothing


President Underwood seems more high-strung than usual—at least from what the trailer for the upcoming season of House of Cards suggests. Netflix dropped the first meaty preview of its political soap’s fourth season on Wednesday night.

The show’s third season ended with Claire Underwood (Robin Wright) walking out on Frank (Kevin Spacey) as he seeks election to a full term following his ill-gotten ascension to the Oval Office, and the trailer suggests that they did not reconcile during the hiatus. The only snippets of dialogue come at the beginning and end of the minute-long clip, presumably from Frank haranguing Claire.

“You have no idea what it means to have nothing,” Frank says. “You don’t value what we have achieved. I have had to fight for everything my entire life.”

“I saw a future, our future,” Claire’s voice says at the end.

“We had a future until you started destroying it,” Frank replies.

Otherwise, the trailer is all split-second glimpses at the 13-episode run with spooky, uptempo percussion that tells nothing about the upcoming season’s actual plot. But after watching it a few times, here are some things you can definitely look forward to in the fourth season of House of Cards:

  • Scornful looks
  • Hallway hookups
  • Remy Danton (Mahershala Ali) and Jackie Sharp (Molly Parker) hooking up
  • Prison tattoos
  • A shirtless guy jamming out to whatever’s playing on his headphones
  • Dark corridors
  • Selfies
  • A crowd diving to the ground
  • A Civil War re-enactor
  • Flashlights
  • A gospel choir
  • Doug Stamper (Michael Kelly) walking purposefully down a hallway
  • Stamper fighting someone on a couch
  • Frank hooking up on a possibly different couch
  • Blood dripping from a faucet
  • Bathroom doors being slammed
  • A hand pressing Frank’s face against a window
  • Frank walking in the woods
  • Claire’s legs in the presidential limo

Netflix will release the new season of House of Cards on March 4.

Staff Writer

Benjamin Freed joined Washingtonian in August 2013 and covers politics, business, and media. He was previously the editor of DCist and has also written for Washington City Paper, the New York Times, the New Republic, Slate, and BuzzFeed. He lives in Adams Morgan.