Two members of the punk-rock protest group Pussy Riot will have a part in the hit U.S. television show "House of Cards," a newspaper in Baltimore reported Monday.
Two sources from the show's production team told City Paper that Nadezhda Tolokonnikova and Maria Alyokhina were on the set of the show last week and will have a part in Season 3.
Tolokonnikova and Alyokhina were two of the three members of the group who were convicted of "hooliganism motivated by religious hatred" in 2012 following their controversial performance in Moscow's Christ the Savior Cathedral.
They both served 22 months of their two-year sentences before being released early due to an amnesty signed by the Russian parliament.
The pair has been feted in the United States since their release, including appearing at an Amnesty International concert in New York where they were introduced by Madonna.
Tolokonnikova and Alyokhina have been in the United States recently, and Tolokonnikova has tweeted photos of the two there. She did not respond to requests for a comment on the story Monday.
Made for the online streaming site Netflix, "House of Cards" follows ruthless politician Frank Underwood, played by Kevin Spacey, and his wife (Robin Smith) on their quest for power and success in Washington D.C. The show has gained a large following and was the first original online-only television series to be nominated for an Emmy Award.
The possible appearance of Pussy Riot had City Paper speculating that Season 3 would deal with foreign policy rather than its previous fare of domestic politics.
Another sign that that is likely was the news earlier this year that Russia vetoed a request from the show to film on the premises of the UN Security Council.
In an e-mail to council members that was obtained by Foreign Policy, Mikael Agasandyan, UNSC coordinator for the permanent Russian delegation to the UN, wrote: "We are of the opinion that the Security Council premises should be available at any time and on short notice. Besides that, we consistently insist that the Security Council premises are not an appropriate place for filming, staging, etc."
Whether the idea to invite Pussy Riot came to the show's makers before or after that snub is not known.
