Why Kate Mara Lied For 'House of Cards' As Zoe Barnes [SPOILER ALERT!]

This article is not for anyone who is a “House of Cards” fan and hasn’t seen the first episode. There are major spoilers involved, but for those who can’t wait to watch the premiere of season 2 or have already seen it, get ready to read about Kate Mara’s exclusive interview with Entertainment Weekly about what happened to her character, Zoe Barnes.

Here’s a quick recap: The ambitious, young journalist was one of the central characters from season 1. Barnes and Frank Underwood (played by Kevin Spacey) had a love-hate relationship. In the first episode of the new season, it’s clear their relationship has dissolved, but it seems that as long as Zoe is ready to forget about what happened to Peter Russo in season 1, she and her ex-lover/partner/enemy will be able to conduct business as usual -- that is, until they meet in the subway.

After Zoe tells Frank she deleted his number and their text history from her phone, she continues to press the new vice president about Russo’s death. That’s when, seemingly out of nowhere, he pushes her in front of a subway train and ends her life. It wasn’t a dream. Zoe Barnes really dies in the first episode of season 2, and now, after knowing Zoe’s fate for 18 months, Mara can finally talk about her character’s last moments.

Mara said she was pretty sure the rest of the cast knew her character was going to die, but what producers weren’t sure of was how. “They probably don’t want me to tell you,” she said. “But it was very surreal when we shot it. It was such a crazy thing to shoot.”

There’s an British version of “House of Cards,” where the Zoe Barnes character is thrown off a roof and yells “Daddy” up at Frank as she falls to her death. “It’s so dark,” Mara said.

Originally she wanted to see the British version before she filmed her scene, but was advised not to by executive producer David Fincher. “He told me I shouldn’t because we were doing a very different thing,” she said. “And I decided to wait. Now that it’s done for me, I’ll probably go back and check it out, because people say really great things about it.”

Though Mara doesn’t think her character deserved what happened to her, she explained that’s what makes “House of Cards” so intriguing. “It’s one of those things that I love about the show,” she said. “You know, it happens, and then they just sort of move on.”

Mara is currently gearing up to star in “The Fantastic Four” as The Invisible Woman; the film is set to be released in 2015.

Follow me on Twitter @mariamzzarella