House of Cards season 4: Donald Trump narrative shows we could have pushed it even further, says Kevin Spacey

The Frank Underwood actor described the Republican presidential candidate as a 'fictional character'

In a strangely prescient case of life imitating art, House of Cards' fourth season - the Netflix series' most dramatic yet - contains several parallels to the current goings-on in the world of US politics.

All 13 episodes of the latest season debuted on Friday and the show's star Kevin Spacey - who plays Machiavelian president Frank Underwood - was questioned about this exact notion on NBC's Meet the Press.

"We are a fictional show, although there are times where we'll shoot some sequence and I'll think 'Gosh, did we push it too far?' ...and then I turn on the news and I go, 'Well, we probably haven't gone far enough,'" the actor admitted.

The host specifically pinpointed the controversial case of Donald Trump who is currently proving a Republican frontrunner despite heavy criticism.

Asking Spacey what his Democratic President Underwood would think of the presidential candidate, the actor responded: "I thought about this for quite some time."

"As long as we understand that there is a distinction - that one of these figures is a fictional character and the other is a fictional character."

According to Spacey, this isn't the first instance of real-life events mirroring the show's storylines.

"This has happened every season where we have decided on a storyline, we have written it, we have shot it and then just before the series gets dropped, something very close to what we have decided to develop happens to hit the headlines.

"I know that people think we've ripped it, but it's really the other way around," Spacey said.

"We think somehow they're getting our stories."

Thankfully, this doesn't include a reporter getting pushed in front of a train.