--- description: On the show, love is all about power. Don't expect that to change in season three title: 'House of Cards' Creator Beau Willimon: Season 3: Love Is About Power image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltcd3eb29151cd62a5/6987813455a8590c22a8608c/hoc_ps3_019_h.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Entertainment](/section/entertainment/) ## Entertainment Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # _House of Cards_ Creator Beau Willimon: Love Is 'Transactional'  by [Eliana Dockterman](/author/eliana-dockterman/)  ## Eliana Dockterman Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Correspondent Feb 26, 2015 9:00 PM CUT  Robin Wright and Kevin Spacey in Season 3 of Netflix's House of Cards Robin Wright and Kevin Spacey in Season 3 of Netflix's House of CardsDavid Giesbrecht—Netflix  by [Eliana Dockterman](/author/eliana-dockterman/)  ## Eliana Dockterman Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Correspondent Feb 26, 2015 9:00 PM CUT Frank and Claire Underwood probably won’t grow more sentimental this weekend on the third season of _House of Cards,_ which premieres on Netflix on Feb. 27\. Fans know by now that everything on the show is about power — and love, as creator Beau Willimon tells TIME, is no exception. “I think that love, even the purest love, is also about power and transactional. I don’t look at ‘power’ as a bad word, and I don’t look at ‘transactional’ as a bad word,” he says.”Even the phrase ‘unconditional love’ is almost the terminology of contract law. It’s saying I am making a bargain with you to make myself completely vulnerable and open, to always be there for you. And I expect that in return. That is transactional.” Willimon’s philosophy on relationships is neatly summed up by Frank (Kevin Spacey) in season one. He quotes Oscar Wilde: “Everything in the world is about sex, except sex. Sex is about power.” While critics have said characters on the show use sex for leverage or involve power politics in the bedroom, Willimon says that’s how sex often works. “I would argue that if you look at a lot of relationships, those extreme power dynamics exist in them where one of the two people is prostituting themselves,” he says. “And that could be a man or a woman.” Romantic! ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3724484/house-of-cards-beau-willimon-season-3/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3724484/house-of-cards-beau-willimon-season-3/"},"headline":"House of Cards Creator Beau Willimon: Love Is 'Transactional'","datePublished":"2015-02-26T21:00:34.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T04:45:27.636Z","description":"On the show, love is all about power — and don't expect that to change in season three","url":"https://time.com/3724484/house-of-cards-beau-willimon-season-3/","keywords":["Television","Netflix"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltcd3eb29151cd62a5/6987813455a8590c22a8608c/hoc_ps3_019_h.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Eliana Dockterman","jobTitle":"Correspondent","url":"https://time.com/author/eliana-dockterman/"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltcd3eb29151cd62a5/6987813455a8590c22a8608c/hoc_ps3_019_h.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Robin Wright and Kevin Spacey in Season 3 of Netflix's House of Cards","caption":"Robin Wright and Kevin Spacey in Season 3 of Netflix's House of Cards","creditText":"David Giesbrecht—Netflix","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3724484/house-of-cards-beau-willimon-season-3/","name":"House of Cards Creator Beau Willimon: Love Is 'Transactional'"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"House of Cards - Season 3 - White House Portrait","description":"House of Cards - Season 3 - White House Portrait","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/C4Us0IxF/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2015-02-15T19:40:50.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/C4Us0IxF.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/3724484/house-of-cards-beau-willimon-season-3/","duration":"PT31S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/3724484/house-of-cards-beau-willimon-season-3/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```