House of Cards is all about Frank Underwood’s climb to power. Congressman from South Carolina, he plays a game where only the sharpest survive. Dive into Washington D.C. politics, where everyone is out for themselves. Characters are complex and often morally grey. They swim through murky waters, making deals and breaking rules. Intense plots and great acting make this show a must-watch. It became a big deal, defining streaming era. You won’t forget it.

Meet the characters from House of Cards

Doug Stamper

Doug is the terrifyingly loyal fixer who lives in the shadows of House of Cards. He is obsessively methodical, quietly brutal, and so relentlessly devoted to Frank it sometimes feels like worship — in a way that’s kind of sweet and very, very dangerous. He has weird little rituals (stacks receipts like tiny altars or does crossword puzzles at 2 a.m. — I still can’t tell which) and he drinks even when he swears he won’t, which is both tragic and annoyingly human. He says almost nothing and says it with a look, and that silence does more work than a hundred speeches. One minute he’s cold as ice, the next he’s tender in a way that makes you uncomfortable; he is the show’s moral question mark and also the one who gets things done.

Claire Underwood

Claire is the poised, lethal coolness at the heart of the show — always immaculate and never accidental. She moves like she’s playing chess three moves ahead and will smile softly while arranging someone’s life (or death) with surgical precision. She does philanthropy like it’s theater and loves a good garden party yet will dispassionately ruin your career over hors d’oeuvres, which is delightfully alarming. There’s something quietly vulnerable under that tux and those polished nails — like she keeps a secret playlist of sad songs and hums them when no one’s around. She’s cold, she’s ambitious, and she’s the kind of person who can make power look like a perfectly tailored dress.

Seth Grayson

Seth is the slick press operator who always smells faintly of cologne and late-night copy edits. He’s hungry, adaptive, a little sycophantic, and perfect at massaging the truth until it fits whoever he’s whispering to — which makes him endlessly useful and slightly slimy. He likes vintage pens (don’t ask why) and claims to hate social media, even though he tracks every trending hashtag like a hawk, which is so on-brand and also kind of funny. He never seems to be the star but is the one who greases the wheels and quietly survives every upheaval with a smile and a press release.

President Garrett Walker

Garrett Walker is the decent, bookish president who genuinely seems to want to do good, which is both his strength and his tragic flaw. He smiles easily, reads policy briefs like bedtime stories, and would probably prefer policy to politics if he could, which just isn’t how Washington works. He’s affable in town halls but looks haunted in private, like he knows the right thing to do but someone else already chose his path. He plays an old guitar in the evenings — or is that just a rumor? — and that tiny image of him struggling with chords makes him unexpectedly human. Ultimately he’s the cautionary example of decency in a world that rewards ruthlessness, and you can feel the sadness in every polite handshake.

Francis Underwood

Francis Underwood is the show’s glorious, scheming heart — charming, venomous, and obsessively strategic. He talks to you like he’s your best friend and then stabs you in the back with a grin, which is, yes, the most thrilling thing about him. He loves power for the craft of it — like a chess player who also brews terrible coffee at midnight — and he can be poetic one minute and barbaric the next. He’s wildly confident, ferociously patient, and somehow manages to be both theater director and pit boss of the political casino. Also, he has odd little habits like flicking crumbs into a pocket (I swear I saw that) and can be inexplicably sentimental about small, useless things, and that tiny softness makes the rest of his cruelty feel colder.