The return of Doug Stamper (Michael Kelly) in season 3 of House of Cards has been under intense speculation and reports which suggest both possibilities -- of his being dead and alive -- have surfaced.

House of Cards Responds To Emmy Rejection With Spoof Featuring Doug Stamper

But Kelly's recent participation in the Emmys and related House of Cards spoofs might suggest that he might be coming back for the next chapter of the Netflix series. For an actor who is not set to return on the show, Kelly's involvement in its promotional activity is pretty strong. In fact he has been the main face of the recent spoofs with Ricky Gervais and also showed up for the Emmys with show creator Beau Willimon, despite the fact that he hadn't been nominated.

In June, Willimon spoke to the Washington Post about the story arc of Doug and Rachel. Speaking about Rachel's character he suggested that the way her arc eventually panned out was pleasantly surprising for him and the writers too, as she was initially meant to be shortlived, just a prop in the background.

Next Chapter To 'Pull From Real Incidents To Make Netflix Show 'As Realistic As Possible?'

"Rachel Posner was never intended to be a big character. She was listed as "call girl" in her first two episodes," he said. "But Corey Stoll was doing such a fantastic job as Peter Russo, I wanted to expand his story. As part of that process, the call girl came back into the story, got a name and became a fully-fledged character. And as a result, this very complex dynamic between her and Doug Stamper started to form."

After all that went down in the finale between Rachel and Doug, leaving him severely injured, the question about Doug's future on the show did come up. But Willmon was tight-lipped, simply stating, "There's only one way to find out."

The third season of House of Cards will film in Maryland, where the first and second seasons were also shot. Initially, the continuation of filming of the third season of the Netflix series was fraught with troubles over the past few weeks as the producers weren't getting permission from the State of Maryland. But the issue was finally resolved on April 25.

Watch a trailer for Season 2 of House of Cards:

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House of cards, Netflix, Television