Sure, you remember Frank and Claire Underwood, and their trusted advisor Doug Stamper — and probably Will Conway, their Republican challenger in the presidential election. But there are a whole lot of other “House of Cards” characters who are easy to forget in a show with this many moving pieces.
Rachel Posner (Rachel Brosnahan)
Rachel was a prostitute that got mixed up with Russo in 2013. Stamper paid her to keep quiet about being with the politician, and then he started paying her to sleep with him as well. Eventually, Stamper used Rachel to help get Russo drinking again, crushing his governor aspirations as part of Frank’s master plan. But Stamper got way too clingy with Rachel and she tries to escape his grasp, making her a potentially damaging loose end. He eventually tracks her down and kills her.
Lisa Williams (Kate Lyn Sheil)
But doug left one loose end: Rachel’s girlfriend Lisa. Lisa is still out there, as one of the few people outside the Underwood administration who knows full well what kind of person Doug Stamper is.
President Garrett Walker (Michael Gill)
The former Democratic president, Walker made the major error of not giving Frank the Secretary of State position he’d been promised. So Frank made it his mission to get revenge, destroy Walker and steal his presidency. It took a long time and tons of political moves, but Frank eventually managed to get Walker to make him Vice President, then got Walker impeached.
Tom Yates (Paul Sparks)
Frank originally commissioned Tom to write about his pet legislation, “America Works,” which morphed into a book about Underwood himself. But Frank fired Tom when he didn’t like the candid portrait of the Underwoods the author was writing. But he helped convince Claire to leave Frank in Season 3, then came on as Claire’s speechwriter when she became Frank’s running mate. Oh, and Tom and Claire are having an affair.
Zoe Barnes (Kate Mara)
Zoe started as a journalist with questionable ethics who had an affair with Frank as a mutually beneficial relationship. He’d provide her with leaks, she’d write the stories he wanted. But she started to uncover more and more about Frank, including his murder of Peter Russo. Before she could do much with the information, Frank threw her in front of a train.
Leann Harvey (Neve Campbell)
The Underwoods’ campaign manager is as ruthless as they are. One of her biggest contributions was helping connect Frank with Aiden McCallen, the data scientist who discovered Republican presidential nominee Will Conway was manipulating search engine traffic to get a leg-up in the election.
Aidan MacAllan (Damian Young)
A data scientist for the NSA, Aidan has been the Underwoods’ ace in the hole for the entire 2016 election. He’s using domestic surveillance to aid their campaign in a completely illegal manner, but he’s unsure and twitchy about the whole idea.
Nathan Green (Jeremy Holm)
FBI guy Nathan Green is a friend of Doug Stamper’s, and when Lucas Goodwin put out a post on the Deep Web looking for someone to help him get information by hacking AT&T, Green spotted it. That allowed Stamper to frame Goodwin for cyberterrorism, with the help of hacker Gavin Orsay, who Green worked with. Green’s been elevated in the FBI for helping cover Frank’s back.
Augustus Underwood (Malcolm Madera)
Though his real name is Eric, the Civil War reenactor who portrayed Frank’s ancestor, Confederate soldier Augustus Underwood, endeared himself to the then-vice president during his visit to his home state way back in season 2. Eric told Frank a great deal about his great-great-great grandfather, including the details of his death during the Battle of Spotsylvania.
Vice President Donald Blythe (Reed Birney)
Frank basically hates Donald Blythe. He’s been using him since Season 1, carefully manipulating the congressman to get bills passed, ingratiate himself with other people, and execute his master plans. Frank made Blythe his vice president because he was an easy nomination and it was more politically useful to get Blythe out of Congress. Now Blythe is a vice president who doesn’t do a whole lot, and when he was left to take over the presidency when Frank was in a coma after being shot, pretty much found he wasn’t interested in the job.
Tim Corbet (David Andrews)
Tim is Frank’s good friend from college, but in fact their relationship was actually romantic. Frank feels very strongly for Tim, even though the two have moved on with their separate lives.
Kate Baldwin (Kim Dickens)
White House Correspondent Kim Dickens was the one who broke the story of Frank’s use of FEMA funds for his America Works initiative. She also managed to learn enough about the Underwoods to write some rough stuff about how ruthless they were. She also had a romantic relationship with Tom Yates.
Peter Russo (Corey Stoll)
Frank Underwood’s first major victim is Peter Russo, a Pennsylvania congressman who Underwood covers for, gaining leverage over him. Then when Underwood needed Russo to cave, he orchestrated a situation to cause him to slip back into alcoholism. Frank finished his total destruction of Russo by murdering him and making it look like a suicide.
Remy Danton (Mahershala Ali)
A former employee of Frank Underwood’s from way back, Remy became a lobbyist, and then worked for Raymond Tusk. For a while, Remy was Frank’s chief of staff, but eventually Remy flips on Frank, confirming details to journalist Tom Hammerschmidt about Frank’s involvement in impeaching former President Garrett Walker before making his exit from the political stage.
Jackie Sharp (Molly Parker)
A former ally of Frank’s, Jackie was manipulated so much into betraying people for his benefit, she started to see his true colors. She briefly ran for president against Heather Dunbar, but Frank backstabbed her and she dropped out and endorsed Dunbar against Frank instead. She also corroborated her role in helping Frank against Walker in Hammerschmidt’s story.
Secretary of State Catherine Durant (Jayne Atkinson)
Former Democratic Senator Cathy Durant has been a key ally of Frank’s all through his machinations to become president. She helped him way back in Season 1, and got the Secretary of State nomination for her trouble. She’s been having second thoughts about the way Frank runs the country for a while though.
Lucas Goodwin (Sebastian Arcelus)
Zoe’s former editor took up the case after her death, enlisting hacker Gavin Orsay to help him break into AT&T to discover if Frank and Zoe really were having an affair. It was actually an FBI sting orchestrated by Doug Stamper, though, and Gavin was run up on cyberterrorism charges. Knowing that Frank had killed Zoe and Russo but unable to prove it, Gavin shot the president, and was killed during the assassination attempt.
Tom Hammerschmidt (Boris McGiver)
The latest journalist to try to take down Frank Underwood. Hammerschmidt started looking into what Lucas found out about Zoe and started trying to track it down. As editor-in-chief of the Washington Herald, he’s had some success, and he’s slowly tracking down more and more about the Underwoods. He hasn’t quite convinced anyone they’re actually supervillains yet, though.
Viktor Petrov (Lars Mikkelsen)
The Russian president, pretty obviously based on real-life leader Vladimir Putin, might be the smuggest person on “House of Cards,” and that’s definitely saying something. Petrov is as shrewd and ruthless as the Underwoods, but he’s a lot less polite about it most of the time. He’s continually locked horns with Frank and messed up his plans as president.
Gavin Orsay (Jimmi Simpson)
A hacker bagged by the FBI, Doug Stamper used Orsay to set up Lucas Goodwin as he was trying to find evidence about Zoe Barnes’ death. Instead, Orsay and the FBI got Goodwin arrested. Later Stamper sued Orsay to find the missing Rachel Posner, and Orsay tried to use the information to extort Stamper and get a pardon. Stamper, in turn, beat the hell out of him.
Mark Usher (Campbell Scott)
You may think you’re supposed to remember Will Conway’s campaign manager from season 4, but nope, Mark Usher is all new in season 5. And he’s an essential add, since it’s Usher’s hands that guide the Conway campaign and make it formidable against the Underwoods.
Jane Davis (Patricia Clarkson)
Another new character who is introduced so casually you might think she’s shown up before, Davis is a negotiator who has ties to a lot of tough places in the world. She pops up in a close position to Claire midway through the season, but it’s not clear what she wants yet.
