House Of Cards: Ranking All The Main Characters From Worst To Best

Again, Zoe was a one-season character, however, her effect on the show was felt through for seasons after her death.

Without Zoe Barnes, the show's whole narrative would have been so very different. As a character that was close to Frank Underwood she was never going to come out of it well and when he pushed her in front of that train it was genuinely a shocking moment of TV that nobody saw coming. The first episode of season 2 and she was gone, just like that.

Kate Mara was great in the role and it really felt like her influence would be felt through until the end of the series, only she'd be alive. As a journalist, she was aggressive and willing to trade herself to get ahead with what she wanted to do. Going so far as to begin a sexual relationship with Frank Underwood in exchange for information.

Without her being in the show, Lucas would never have become so blinded by grief to shoot Frank and kill Meechum in the process and Tom Hammerschmidt's own investigation of the Underwood's would never have happened. So, whilst she had a brief run in the series it was excellent to watch as she tangled herself in Frank & Claire's dark web.