This story contains spoilers about the entire season of “House of Cards”

Sweden-born actor Joel Kinnaman has been living in the United States for six years now and he’s only now just starting to adjust. “It’s a difficult thing when you leave your home country and come to a place and start playing characters that come from a different place,” Kinnaman, 36, says. “It takes a while to find the personalities and meet the people that you base your characters on.”

Kinnaman broke out as scruffy detective Stephen Holder on AMC’s “The Killing” in 2011, and anchored the “RoboCop” reboot in 2014 as the titular cyborg. But recently, he’s been trying his hand at a more cerebral role as Will Conway, the Republican presidential candidate on the fourth season of “House of Cards.” Kinnaman’s character comes in halfway through the season and gives Frank Underwood (Kevin Spacey) a run for his money in the show’s cunning power-play maneuvers.

Kinnaman spoke with the Journal this week about his role in “House of Cards” and the upcoming “Suicide Squad” film, where he plays Rick Flag alongside Jared Leto, Margot Robbie and Will Smith.

Below, an edited transcript: