'House Of Cards' Star Michael Kelly On Why Frank Underwood Had To Fail

Frank Underwood (Kevin Spacey) has been working his way up to the top since the first episode of Netflix’s political drama “House of Cards," and his right-hand man Doug Stamper (Michael Kelly) was there to support him every step of the way.

They reached their peak for power in Season 4, and Kelly told The Wrap that it was time their hard work came crashing down.

“I remember [former showrunner] Beau [Willimon] telling me for season 3, he said, ‘I want to see what happens when these characters fail,'” Kelly said. “He’s like, ‘I can write you and Kevin twirling your moustaches forever and destroying everything in your path, but I think it would be — I just want to challenge myself. I want to see what happens when they fail.’”

So fail they did, and Kelly said the audiences loved seeing the two juggernauts picking up the pieces of their mess.

“I think the audience missed that a little bit, so that when they did see us twirling our moustaches again, they were pretty happy,” Kelly explained.

Kelly was nominated this year for an Emmy in the Supporting Actor in a Drama Series category. He will be competing against Jonathan Banks from “Better Call Saul,” Peter Dinklage and Kit Harrington from “Game of Thrones,” Ben Mendelsohn from “Bloodline,” and Jon Voight from “Ray Donovan,” according to the Gold Derby.

“House of Cards” garnered a total of 13 nominations, with Spacey getting a nod for Best Lead Actor in a drama series, while his work wife Robin Wright is nominated as Best Lead Actress.

Big changes are in store for the show’s next season, reported Variety, especially since Willimon has passed on the reins to new showrunners Melissa James Gibson and Frank Pugliese.

“House of Cards” Season 5 will premiere sometime in 2017.