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New ‘House of Cards’ trailer, or today’s White House press briefing?

Published May 1st, 2017 11:28AM EDT
House of Cards Season 5 trailer

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Life imitating art is all well and good, but this new House of Cards trailer hits a little too close to home.

We’ve seen successively darker and darker trailers for the upcoming season of Netflix’s best-known original show, but this might take the prize for the scariest preview of the next series. House of Cards seems to be moving from deep political intrigue into the makings of a fascist dictatorship: cops lining the streets, home raids of dissidents, and a dictator desperate to keep power.

The parallels are obvious, and although life might not be imitating art quite this closely yet, the scary part is how Netflix has slowly changed the course of the show without anyone noticing. Sure, everyone knew Underwood was dirty at the beginning, but there’s a big difference between a crooked politician and the point House of Cards seems to have got to: an unelected President who will use the full apparatus of the state to remain in power.

We get a good look at some of the other themes in this trailer, as well: Frank’s mental issues, his underlying parental troubles, and his relationship with Clare all look rocky here. There’s no real plot spoilers (unless you count the existence of violence, manipulation and corruption as spoilers), so dive in and get ready. May 30th can’t come soon enough.

Chris Mills
Chris Mills News Editor

Chris Mills has been a news editor and writer for over 15 years, starting at Future Publishing, Gawker Media, and then BGR. He studied at McGill University in Quebec, Canada.