What Will Become of the Claire Underwood Presidency On ‘House Of Cards’?

While Frank Underwood was always seen as the ultimate villain of House of Cards—and yes, his “do whatever it takes regardless of who gets hurt” (and sometimes because of who gets hurts) approach to politics was certainly reprehensible—in recent seasons, his antics have become almost cartoonishly diabolical. His desperation to remain in the White House saw him go from being a legitimately frightening figure to one that had to crash and burn sooner or later (hopefully sooner). That’s why killing Frank off (a decision made solely due to the actor Kevin Spacey’s numerous real-life sexual harassment and assault allegations) is probably the smartest decision the show has made in years—especially because now Claire Underwood (Robin Wright) can come to the forefront where she belongs.

With Frank dead, Claire is the de facto President of the United States, a role she’s been preening herself for over the past several seasons. Whereas Frank’s ministrations were often clunky and heavy-handed due to his desperation to remain in power, Claire’s cool, calm, and collected demeanor have allowed her ruthlessness to get her much further in Washington than her deceased husband could have ever dreamed of.

Of course, there’s no expectation that Claire’s ascendance to the ultimate power is going to be easy. Not everyone is fooled by her charismatic charm, and no doubt the political movers and shakers will be pressuring and undermining her at every opportunity—especially considering that even in the House of Cards world, Claire is still the first female Commander in Chief. How she’ll fare at the end of Season 6, the final season of the long-running Netflix series, is anyone’s guess, but given her past performance under pressure, I’d say she’s a pretty safe bet.

Claire as president is such an interesting prospect largely because the character herself is such a conundrum. She’s guilty of committing or being complicit in no small number of crimes and is inarguably corrupt (though whether as corrupt as Frank remains to be seen), but there’s also a part of her that does genuinely aspire to do the right thing, that wants to see justice for those who are in most desperate need of it. Of course, it could be that her interest in hot button issues is down solely to parlaying political favor, but in the softer moments of past seasons, there’s a glimmer of authentic goodness within.

Still, good intentions aren’t good for much when it comes down to it—it’s what you do with them that matters. Claire can have all the grand ideas in the world about how she wants to change the USA for the better and once she’s in the Oval Office, it can (and likely will) all come crashing down. After all, the Underwoods have plenty of opponents in the Senate and beyond who will do everything in their power to undermine any legislation she attempts to put forward, and perhaps rightfully so. She’ll have to do some wheeling and dealing to get her way, but Claire isn’t likely to roll over for any enemy regardless of how big of a fight they put up.

What will be so great about Claire’s presidency, however short-lived it ends up being, is how different it will be from Frank’s. Despite working as a team for so many years to get to where they are now, Frank and Claire weren’t necessarily cut from the same cloth. The new president understands that sometimes being a little more understated can work in your favor and that sometimes you have to play the long game rather than rushing in head first like a bull in a china shop. Claire is more logical than Frank, whose arrogance and greed made him literally unable to think clearly at times. He lacked patience, which Claire has in abundance given how she’s waited around for so many years to get into her current position (and there’s no doubt that she’s been working up to this all along). She’s ambitious, unapologetically so, but she also knows how to read a room, which should make watching her navigate this new position that much more exciting.

Who knows what will become of the Claire Underwood presidency? She could be the greatest thing to ever enter the House of Cards version of the White House or she could go down in flames. Something tells me (and I’m rooting for) the former.

Jennifer Still is a writer and editor from New York who cares too way much about fictional characters and spends her time writing about them.

Watch the final season of House of Cards on Netflix