In the wake of Kevin Spacey's sacking from House of Cards following allegations of sexual misconduct made against him, the show bowed out with a shorter final season and a surprising open ending.
For those who need a recap, in the final ever scene, Frank Underwood's loyal friend and former colleague Doug Stamper (Michael Kelly) confronts President Claire Hale (Robin Wright) in the Oval Office, where she pushes Doug to admit that he killed her husband using his liver medication.
Emotional, Doug holds the letter opener that Frank left him in his will to a heavily pregnant Claire's neck, drawing blood in the process.
He stops himself short of killing her, sobs and apologises – as Claire seizes the opportunity to stab him with the letter opener – and with Doug, all of her secrets die.
She's also now in possession of Frank's audio diary on a USB drive containing many of Frank and Claire's secrets – another item which Frank left to Doug.
The finale reveals that it was Doug who killed Frank – though only to protect his legacy, by preventing Frank from killing Claire after the events of season five's finale and therefore going down in history as a murderer.
Now, series co-showrunner Melissa James Gibson has explained to The Hollywood Reporter what that closing scene meant, and what was going through Claire's mind during those final moments.
James Gibson said the final words that Claire spoke to Doug as he bled in her arms – "There. No more pain" – explained her motivations and took the series full circle.
This line echoes those spoke by Frank Underwood (Spacey) at the very start of the series, when he snapped the neck of an injured dog, while explaining about useless pain.
And Kelly added of Doug's demise: "Once she turns the letter opener on him, he doesn't fight. He doesn't try to live."
"In the end, Claire is, to some degree, freeing Doug Stamper and looking at us in a full-circle way," James Gibson also said.
"One of the really fascinating questions is: Who is the biggest monster of them all?"
Tasha is a freelance writer for with a particular interest in the representation of women in film and TV. After graduating with a Literature degree then journalism qualifications with News Associates a few years further back than she’d like to admit, Tasha began her freelance career. She’s worked as a writer, editor and commissioning editor for a number of publications including Digital Spy. She is also a theatre critic. LinkedIn
