House of Cards - Deviations From The Novel in The Series

Deviations From The Novel in The Series

In the novel, but not in the television series:

• Urquhart never speaks directly to the reader; the character is written solely in a third-person perspective.
• When alone, Urquhart is much less self-assured and decisive. He smokes and swears frequently.
• Mattie Storin worked for The Daily Telegraph. (In the television series she was a journalist with the fictional Chronicle newspaper.)
• Mattie Storin does not have a relationship with Urquhart - she does not even talk with him frequently. She does, however, have a sexual relationship with John Krajewski.
• Urquhart's wife is called 'Miranda' and is an extremely minor character, not sharing in his schemes. (In the later novels, To Play the King and The Final Cut, however, she is called 'Elizabeth' and plays a larger role, as in the television series.)
• Benjamin Landless is from Canada, not from the slums of East London.
• The Conservative party conference was held in Bournemouth. (In the television series it was in Brighton.)
• Tim Stamper does not exist (although Dobbs introduced him in the novel To Play the King).
• Earle's rent boy appears in person at an important speech of his, distracting him; subsequently, Earle is harassed by reporters who have been told of his indiscretion.
• Urquhart threatens to kill Mattie Storin by hitting her with a chair, but refrains in a fit of cowardice, and jumps to his own death after she leaves the roof garden.