'House of Cards' Season 6 Spoilers: Doug to Turn Down Claire's Offer of Truce
Doug Stamper (Michael Kelly) will rather be jobless than work under Claire (Robin Wright) in the upcoming season of the political thriller, "House of Cards."
In a May interview, Kelly made clear what makes his character tick in the series. According to him, Doug is someone who needs to be at the center of the action. In comparing Doug's personality with the real-life White House chief of staff Reince Priebus, he said that Doug would probably quit and look for a job elsewhere if he had a boss like Donald Trump.
What made the dynamics between Doug and Frank (Kevin Spacey) work was that they were both movers. Doug would not be able to tolerate having a boss who changes his mind at the drop of a hat. What he will also not have patience with is to watch someone disregard his inputs as a strategist. This is what will happen to him the moment he agrees to work under the new Underwood administration.
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"Frank and Doug have such a—is symbiotic the right word? —relationship where they think very much the same way. They are very calculated in all the decisions that they make together. They think things through, they talk about things, and perhaps that's what he does, but like I said I can't imagine. It's gotta be a really tough job," Kelly said.
He added: "I believe that Doug Stamper needs that action, he needs to be in the game to survive. If offered that position, I'm sure he would just decline it and go work for someone else to try and take down something he doesn't necessarily agree with, and to overtake that position of power."
Even if Doug is brilliant with what he does, his previous association with Frank makes him a flight risk for Claire. She, above anyone else, knows how the man has stayed loyal to her husband until the end. Since Frank's time in the White House is finished, so is Doug's job as his right-hand man.
There are a lot of speculations on what will happen to Kelly's character. One is that Claire will offer him a job in her cabinet just to keep her eyes on him. The new POTUS cannot afford to have Doug on the loose. The man knows a lot of the Underwoods' secrets, and it will be suicide to let him go.
Meanwhile, season 6 is also expected to feature the triumphant return of Tom Hammerschmidt (Boris McGiver). He previously promised to expose all of Frank and Claire's dark secrets. He failed to prove anything, though, due to lack of evidence.
Now that Janine Skorsky (Constance Zimmer) is returning in the spotlight, Tom is ready to tackle the case again. The journalist is exactly who he needs to prove that Frank is behind the deaths of several people. The latter killed Zoe Barnes (Kate Mara) and US representative Peter Russo (Corey Stoll), and let Doug get away with murdering the prostitute Rachel Posner (Rachel Brosnahan). Janine was working on this exposé before Frank threatened to kill her. She ran away and hid after.
"House of Cards" season 6 will premiere this Fall.
