With "House of Cards" Season 5 in pre-production, rumors heat up regarding Frank Underwood's fate on Netflix's political drama.
Among the popular theories involving Kevin Spacey's Frank Underwood is that he might die of natural causes on the show. In "House of Cards" Season 4, it was revealed that Frank had a liver disease. Although it sounds rather anti-climactic to have a very powerful and strong-willed man to succumb to an illness, it is likely that showrunners would take this natural route to end his reign.
Another theory, however, congruent to show's theme and tone is that Doug Stamper (Michael Kelly) would be the one to bring Frank down. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Doug, as well as Claire Underwood's close ally Leann Harvey (Neve Campbell), might eventually realize that the entire Underwood Empire would be nothing without their contributions and might opt to leave Frank and Claire (Robin Wright) to assume their own powerful positions.
Doug has been a Frank Underwood loyalist since day one and would even go to great lengths just to protect Frank, and make sure that he's at an advantage. But as is consistent with a show where alliances shift on a daily basis and treachery is a dish best served cold, it is possible that Doug could be one of the very few persons capable of eliminating Frank.
If there's anyone Frank is most cautious about, it would be his wife Claire. "House of Cards" Season 4, the couple finally separated after Frank gave his blessing to Claire and Yates' relationship. What's for sure is that they are no longer the power couple who had each other's backs, which puts Frank at a very vulnerable position by having Claire as his Vice President.
Meanwhile, there are rumors that "House of Cards" Season 5 may deviate from the original British version of the show by having Claire oust Frank instead of the other way around.
In an interview with GQ, Campbell stated that "House of Cards" Season 5 is "a good year for women in 'House of Cards!' All the female characters are very powerful." Does this mean Claire will finally beat Frank and rise to the highest position in the United States?
If ever "House of Cards" Season 5 does turn out to be the show's last run, fans can expect a lot of drama and shocking twists.