House Of Cards writers execute Machiavellian scheme to become showrunners

By Matt Wayt | February 29, 2016 | 5:54pm

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Netflix has announced that two senior writers on House Of Cards will serve as co-showrunners for season five, according to /Film. Last month, The A.V. Club reported that although the series was picked up for a fifth season, Beau Willimon, the show’s creator and showrunner, would not return for another run of episodes where Frank Underwood (Kevin Spacey) mostly gets everything he wants, but is still pissy about it. Recently, Netflix announced Willimon’s replacements: Melissa James Gibson and Frank Pugliese. Both writers joined the show in 2014 for its third season, at which point they presumably planned to oust Willimon from his seat through a series of intricate power plays that would seem shocking were this not Hollywood.

Gibson has written several plays and has worked on FX’s The Americans. Pugliese is also a playwright and has contributed to Homicide: Life On The Street and Law & Order. In a statement, Spacey, who is also an executive producer, said: “I welcome Frank and Melissa in their new roles on House of Cards and look forward to collaborating with them and our creative team on season five. We and the rest of the House of Cards writers look forward to the next chapter of the reign of Underwood.” This was before storming into another room, turning toward the camera, and declaring, “There can be no false steps now. If Gibson and Pugliese aren’t up to the task, Netflix will cut them down in short order. Let the butchery begin.”