House of Cards always had one goal — to show Kevin Spacey’s character as a full-blown monster. With the show’s dark themes and Spacey’s own controversies, the line between fiction and reality blurred. Now, some fans think that very reason could justify a Netflix revival.
With prestige dramas making a comeback, could House of Cards get another shot, or is its legacy too tangled to resurrect?
Netflix needs another House of Cards — the show that made Kevin Spacey the perfect monster
From the very first episode, House of Cards had a clear vision — Frank Underwood was never meant to be a misunderstood antihero. He was always a monster. That was the plan. And in a world where Netflix is struggling to keep its edge, a show with that kind of storytelling conviction is exactly what it needs now.
Creator Beau Willimon once explained (via TheThings),
We wanted to start with a monster, and then reveal over time that he actually had elements of humanity to him…He doesn’t think of himself as a bad person. That’s the key: you have to approach the story through the character’s eyes, and we’re mostly approaching it through Frank and Claire’s eyes.
But the brilliance of House of Cards was that it didn’t stop there. The show unraveled Underwood’s humanity in layers, making viewers complicit in his rise to power. The result was a cultural phenomenon.
The numbers prove it. The show racked up 56 Emmy nominations, seven wins, and two Golden Globes for Kevin Spacey. It became the blueprint for Netflix’s binge model, with data showing massive spikes in viewership upon release. It was the streamer’s first prestige drama — one that proved online-only shows could compete with traditional networks.
And House of Cards wasn’t just successful; it was iconic. Spacey’s Frank Underwood became a pop culture fixture, from parodies on Sesame Street to late-night talk shows.
Netflix needs that level of commitment again. In a sea of forgettable originals, a revival — one that leans into the show’s original vision — could be the jolt the platform desperately needs. Because when a story knows exactly what it wants to be, it’s unstoppable.
Kevin Spacey in Se7en: Why he fought to stay off the credits
Kevin Spacey demanded to be left off the opening credits of Se7en — and his reason actually makes sense. The psychological thriller, now streaming on Netflix in the UK and Ireland, kept Spacey’s role a secret until his shocking on-screen arrival.
At the time, Spacey was fresh off The Usual Suspects, a bigger name than Brad Pitt. But he insisted on no billing, no posters, no trailers. Why? He explained on Lex Friedman podcast (reported by LadBible),
I had this feeling that it would be really good if I didn’t take billing in the film…The reason I felt was because I knew that by the time this film would come out it would be the last one of the three movies that I just shot, the fourth one, and if any of those films broke through or did well if it was going to be ‘Brad Pitt, Morgan Freeman, Gwyneth Paltrow, and Kevin Spacey.’
If you don’t show up for the first 25, 30, 40 minutes people are going to figure out who you’re playing.
New Line Cinema wasn’t thrilled. They told him to ‘go ‘f**k himself’. But director David Fincher backed the move, calling it a cool idea. The compromise? Spacey got top billing in the end credits.
Now, as Se7en returns to streaming, that legendary reveal is making waves all over again.
Watch House of Cards on Netflix & Apple TV.
This post belongs to FandomWire and first appeared on FandomWire
