The fourth season of the American

television drama series In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super-g ...

House of Cards A house of cards (also known as a card tower or card castle) is a structure created by stacking playing cards on top of each other, often in the shape of a pyramid. "House of cards" is also an expression that dates back to 1645 meaning a structu ...

'' was announced by

Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fi ...

via

Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

on April 2, 2015. Filming began on June 16, 2015. The season premiered on March 4, 2016.

Production

On April 2, 2015, Netflix announced via its

account that it had renewed ''House of Cards'' for a fourth season of undisclosed length, to be released in early 2016. The tweet read: "I will leave a legacy. #Underwood2016". The first casting calls were announced on May 5, 2015, to occur on May 15. Film crews were spotted filming on June 16, 2015. In December 2015, it was revealed during a 2016 Republican Party presidential debate through faux advertising that the season would premiere on March 4, 2016. In January, show creator, executive producer and showrunner Beau Willimon's departure following the season was announced. The first trailer for the season, which focused on the contentious relationship between the Underwoods, was released on February 10. The press release associated with the trailer said "In an election year, the stakes are now higher than ever, and the biggest threat they face is contending with each other."

Cast

On July 1, 2015,

Neve Campbell Neve Adrianne Campbell (born October 3, 1973; ) is a Canadian actress. She is known for her work in the drama and horror genres. She has appeared on ''People'' magazine's list of "50 Most Beautiful People" twice. Following a series of minor ...

was announced as having been cast for season 4. In September 2015,

Colm Feore Colm Joseph Feore (; born August 22, 1958) is a Canadian actor. A 15-year veteran of the Stratford Festival, he is known for his Gemini-winning turn as Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau in the CBC miniseries '' Trudeau'' (2002), his portrayal of G ...

was announced as having a recurring role. In February 2016,

Joel Kinnaman Charles Joel Nordström Kinnaman (; born 25 November 1979) is a Swedish-American actor and model who first gained recognition for his roles in the Swedish film '' Easy Money'' and the ''Johan Falk'' crime series. Kinnaman is known international ...

was announced as having a recurring role. On February 10,

Ellen Burstyn Ellen Burstyn (born Edna Rae Gillooly; December 7, 1932) is an American actress. Known for her portrayals of complicated women in dramas, she is the recipient of numerous accolades, including an Academy Award, a Tony Award, and two Primetime Em ...

and

Cicely Tyson Cicely Louise Tyson (December 19, 1924January 28, 2021) was an American actress. In a career which spanned more than seven decades in film, television and theatre, she became known for her portrayal of strong African-American women. Tyson recei ...

were announced as cast members in conjunction with the release of the first trailer for the season. *

Kevin Spacey Kevin Spacey Fowler (born July 26, 1959) is an American actor. He began his career as a stage actor during the 1980s, obtaining supporting roles before gaining a leading man status in film and television. Spacey has received various accolade ...

as Francis J. Underwood, the

President of the United States The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States of America. The president directs the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States ...

Robin Wright Robin Gayle Wright (born April 8, 1966) is an American actress. She has won a Golden Globe Award and a Satellite Award, and has received eleven Emmy Award nominations for her work in television. Wright first gained attention for her role in t ...

Claire Underwood Claire Underwood (née Hale) is a fictional character in '' House of Cards'', played by Robin Wright. She is the wife of the show's protagonist Frank Underwood (Kevin Spacey) and the main protagonist in the final season. She is a lobbyist an ...

, First Lady of the United States and former United States Ambassador to the United Nations * Michael Kelly as Douglas "Doug" Stamper, the White House Chief of Staff *

Mahershala Ali Mahershala Ali (; born Mahershalalhashbaz Gilmore, February 16, 1974) is an American actor. He has received multiple accolades, including two Academy Awards, a Golden Globe Award and a Primetime Emmy Award. ''Time'' magazine named him one of th ...

as Remy Danton, the former White House Chief of Staff under President Underwood *

Jayne Atkinson Jayne Atkinson (born 18 February 1959) is a British-American actress. She is best known for the role of Karen Hayes on '' 24'', as well as her Tony Award–nominated roles in '' The Rainmaker'' and '' Enchanted April''. She has also appeared in ...

as Catherine Durant, Secretary of State *

as LeAnn Harvey, a Texas-based political consultant *

Derek Cecil Derek Cecil (born January 5, 1973) is an American actor. He played the role of Seth Grayson on the Netflix series ''House of Cards'', starred in the short-lived series ''Push, Nevada'' and '' The Beat'', and made several appearances in the series ...

as Seth Grayson, the White House Press Secretary * Nathan Darrow as Edward Meechum, the Underwoods'

Secret Service A secret service is a government agency, intelligence agency, or the activities of a government agency, concerned with the gathering of intelligence data. The tasks and powers of a secret service can vary greatly from one country to another. For ...

bodyguard *

Kim Dickens Kimberly Jan Dickens (born June 18, 1965) is an American actress. Her film debut was in the 1995 comedy film ''Palookaville''. Dickens played lead roles in the films '' Truth or Consequences, N.M.'' (1997), ''Zero Effect'' (1998) and '' Mercury R ...

as Kate Baldwin *

Elizabeth Marvel Elizabeth Marvel (born November 27, 1969) is an American actress. Her most prominent roles include Det. Nancy Parras on ''The District'', Solicitor General Heather Dunbar on ''House of Cards'', and President Elizabeth Keane on ''Homeland''. Fil ...

as Heather Dunbar, the former

Solicitor General of the United States The solicitor general of the United States is the fourth-highest-ranking official in the United States Department of Justice. Elizabeth Prelogar has been serving in the role since October 28, 2021. The United States solicitor general represent ...

and Democratic presidential candidate *

Dominique McElligott Dominique McElligott (born March 5, 1986) is an Irish actress. She has appeared as a series regular on '' Raw'' (2008), ''Hell on Wheels'' (2011–2012), '' The Astronaut Wives Club'' (2015), '' House of Cards'' (2016–2017), '' The Last Tycoon' ...

as Hannah Conway, wife of New York Governor and Republican presidential nominee Will Conway *

Molly Parker Molly Parker (born 30 June 1972) is a Canadian actress, writer, and director. She has had roles in independent films as well as television. Her accolades include two Genie Awards, one Canadian Screen Award, one Independent Spirit Awards nomina ...

as Jacqueline "Jackie" Sharp, the Deputy House Minority Whip and Democratic presidential candidate *

Damian Young Damian Young (born October 27, 1961) is an American actor notable for his appearance in the Hal Hartley film ''Amateur'' (1994). He also featured in Hartley's earlier film ''Simple Men'' (1992), and has appeared in theatre, television and film. ...

as Aidan Macallan,

data scientist Data science is an interdisciplinary field that uses scientific methods, processes, algorithms and systems to extract or extrapolate knowledge and insights from noisy, structured and unstructured data, and apply knowledge from data across a bro ...

and friend of LeAnn Harvey *

Paul Sparks Paul Sparks (born October 16, 1971) is an American actor. He is known for his roles as gangster Mickey Doyle in the HBO period drama series ''Boardwalk Empire'', writer Thomas Yates in the Netflix political drama series '' House of Cards'', m ...

as Thomas Yates, an author and speechwriter for the Underwoods * Sebastian Arcelus as Lucas Goodwin, former reporter at '' The Washington Herald'' * Boris McGiver as Tom Hammerschmidt, the former editor of ''The Washington Herald'' and former boss of Lucas Goodwin *

as Elizabeth Hale, Claire's mother *

as General Ted Brockhart, Republican Vice Presidential candidate *

as Doris Jones, a Texas congresswoman *

LisaGay Hamilton LisaGay Hamilton (born March 25, 1964) is an American actress who has portrayed roles in films, television, and on stage. She is best known for her role as secretary/lawyer Rebecca Washington on the ABC legal drama ''The Practice'' (1997–2003) ...

as Celia Jones, Doris' daughter *

as Will Conway, the Republican nominee for president and Governor of New York *

Lars Mikkelsen Lars Dittmann Mikkelsen (born 6 May 1964) is a Danish actor. He has played Copenhagen mayoral election candidate Troels Hartmann in the drama series '' The Killing'', Charles Augustus Magnussen in the third series of '' Sherlock'', the Russian ...

as Viktor Petrov, the

President of the Russian Federation The president of the Russian Federation ( rus, Президент Российской Федерации, Prezident Rossiyskoy Federatsii) is the head of state of the Russian Federation. The president leads the executive branch of the federal ...

Larry Pine Larry Pine (born March 3, 1945) is an American actor. A veteran of the Broadway stage, he began his career playing the role of Fop in the 1968 production of ''Cyrano de Bergerac''. He has since starred in film and television, with recurring roles ...

as Bob Birch, the

House Minority Leader Party leaders of the United States House of Representatives, also known as floor leaders, are congresspeople who coordinate legislative initiatives and serve as the chief spokespersons for their parties on the House floor. These leaders are el ...

and a Democratic

U.S. Representative The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they c ...

from Michigan *

Reed Birney Reed Birney (born September 11, 1954) is an American actor. Birney is known for his performances on stage and screen often acting on and off Broadway. Birney gained acclaim in 2016 for his role in '' The Humans'' winning the Tony Award for Best F ...

as Donald Blythe, the

Vice President of the United States The vice president of the United States (VPOTUS) is the second-highest officer in the executive branch of the U.S. federal government, after the president of the United States, and ranks first in the presidential line of succession. The vice ...

* Eisa Davis as Cynthia Driscoll, Heather Dunbar's campaign manager * Curtiss Cook as Terry Womack, the

House Minority Whip Party leaders of the United States House of Representatives, also known as floor leaders, are congresspeople who coordinate legislative initiatives and serve as the chief spokespersons for their parties on the House floor. These leaders are ele ...

Constance Zimmer Constance Zimmer (born October 11, 1970) is an American actress. She rose to prominence for playing Dana Gordon in the television series '' Entourage'' (2005–2011) and Claire Simms in the television series ''Boston Legal'' (2006–2007). Sh ...

as Janine Skorsky *

Michel Gill Michel Gill (born April 16, 1960), also known as Michael Gill, is an American actor best known for playing President Garrett Walker in the Netflix series ''House of Cards'' and Gideon Goddard on '' Mr. Robot''. Early life Gill is a first gener ...

as Garrett Walker, the former

and Frank's predecessor *

Kate Mara Kate Rooney Mara ( ; born February 27, 1983) is an American actress. She is known for work in television, playing reporter Zoe Barnes in the Netflix political drama ''House of Cards'' (2013–2014; 2016), computer analyst Shari Rothenberg in t ...

as reporter Zoe Barnes *

Corey Stoll Corey Stoll (born March 14, 1976) is an American actor. He is best known for his roles as Congressman Peter Russo on the Netflix political thriller series ''House of Cards'' (2013–2016), for which he received a Golden Globe nomination in 2013 ...

as former Congressman Peter Russo *

Kathleen Chalfant Kathleen Ann Chalfant (née Bishop; born January 14, 1945) is an American actress. She has appeared in many stage plays, both on Broadway and Off-Broadway, as well as making guest appearances on television series, including the '' Law & Order'' ...

as Margaret Tilden, CEO of ''The Washington Herald'' *

Gerald McRaney Gerald Lee McRaney (born August 19, 1947) is an American television and film actor. McRaney is best known as one of the stars of the television shows '' Simon & Simon'', ''Major Dad'', ''Promised Land'' and '' House of Cards''. He currently stars ...

as Raymond Tusk, former associate of President Walker's and adversary of Frank * Reg E. Cathey as Frederick "Freddy" Hayes, White House gardener and former restaurant owner *

Wendy Moniz Wendy Moniz (born January 19, 1969) is an American television actress. Her roles include Dinah Marler in the CBS soap opera ''Guiding Light'', as Rachel McCabe in ''Nash Bridges'', and as Louisa Archer in ''The Guardian (TV series), The Guardian' ...

as Laura Moretti, widow of a liver transplant candidate

Episodes

Reception

Critical response

The fourth season has received positive reviews from critics. On

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...

, the season has a score of 76 out of 100 based on 17 reviews. On

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

, the season has an 88% approval rating, with an average rating of 7.8/10 based on 32 reviews. The site's critical consensus reads, "''House of Cards'' retains its binge-worthiness by ratcheting up the drama, and deepening Robin Wright's role even further." Matt Fowler of

IGN ''IGN'' (formerly ''Imagine Games Network'') is an American video game and entertainment media website operated by IGN Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Ziff Davis, Inc. The company's headquarters is located in San Francisco's SoMa distri ...

gave the season a rating of 8.6 out of 10 and labelled the season "great" with particular praise given to the performances, the addition of new characters, connections to previous seasons and adding new adversaries to the Underwoods.

Accolades

''House of Cards'' received 13 nominations in the drama categories for the

68th Primetime Emmy Awards The 68th Primetime Emmy Awards honored the best in U.S. prime time television programming from June 1, 2015 until May 31, 2016, as chosen by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. The ceremony was held on Sunday, September 18, 2016 at the Mi ...

, including Outstanding Drama Series,

for Outstanding Lead Actor,

for Outstanding Lead Actress, Michael Kelly for Outstanding Supporting Actor, Reg E. Cathey,

and

for Outstanding Guest Actor, and

and

for Outstanding Guest Actress.

References

External links

* * {{House of Cards 2016 American television seasons House of Cards (American TV series) seasons