‘House Of Cards’ Star Michael Kelly Explains How The Final Scene Came To Be & Why It “Felt Right”

Last Friday saw the long-awaited final season of Netflix’s first true major original series, “House of Cards.” After the sudden departure of series star Kevin Spacey, following sexual assault allegations, many fans wondered just what would happen in the final batch of episodes and if the series would be able to stick the landing, so to speak. To be generous, let’s just say the final season has decidedly mixed reviews. But according to one of the stars of the show, the ending was exactly the way he wanted it to be.

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Vulture spoke with Michael Kelly, who plays loyal Frank Underwood chief of staff Doug Stamper, and the actor discussed his thoughts about the final scene and the two big shocking moments that ended “House of Cards.”

Needless to say, **Spoilers ahead**.

For those that didn’t watch the final season, or even just skip to the very end to see how the series wrapped up, “House of Cards” ended with Doug Stamper explaining to Claire Underwood (Robin Wright) why he is the one who killed Frank. This is just the first major shock, as Claire then kills Doug, with the final scene ending as the President holds his dead body.

And as Kelly explains, this was the right way to end the series. Vulture first asked the actor when he found out that he was going to be the one responsible for killing Frank Underwood. Shockingly, it wasn’t until very late into the production of the series.

He explains:

“Oh God, it wasn’t even decided until late. I think it was the episode before. We were figuring out the big decisions back and forth, and back and forth, and back and forth. But when they came to me with that one, I was just like, ‘Oh my God.’ It was like when [series creator Beau Willimon] came to me [in the third season] to tell me Doug was gonna kill Rachel. That he had to. I was like, I don’t wanna, but I know it’s right. It’s what the character has to do. And this was that same feeling. It was one of those feelings. It almost gave me butterflies. It was, like, Of course, he would do that. But it’s also the last person you would think to do it.”

When he was asked about what happened next, with Claire killing Doug, Kelly opened up about how it was hard to say goodbye to the character, but he felt it was a fitting end to the saga. “It was another big range of emotions. It’s upsetting to definitively say good-bye to something because even though the show is over, something can happen years later, whether it’s a movie or a spinoff or this or that. But to definitively say good-bye to the character, it felt good in a way. It was real, true closure. When we filmed it, it felt right,” Kelly says.

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Kelly then talked about how it was filming the last scene with Wright and why her final words to Doug (“There, no more pain.”) not only were a fitting conclusion to the scene but also a call back to the first episode of the series.

He says, “I don’t know how to put it into words. It was so emotional because that was the last scene we shot. For Doug, there is a certain sense of relief. He’s finally at peace. And she says it. Going back to episode one of the show when Frank said that to the dog, ‘There, no more pain.’ For him, that’s it. He’s no longer in pain. He’s no longer battling his demons. He’s no longer having to live this life that he’s lived.”

These comments probably won’t change your mind about the effectiveness (or lack thereof) of the finale, but if anything, it’s clear that Michael Kelly did his best. And that’s commendable.

The entire series of “House of Cards” is available now on Netflix.