Dragon House Fabien Frankel talks about Ser Criston Cole’s shocking moment in the latest episode of the hit HBO series.
In the first episode of Dragon House, the public discovered Ser Criston Cole by Fabien Frankel. A man of low birth, he wins the favor of Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen during a tournament. He is then added to the Kingsguard by her as he is the only candidate to have seen real fights. Unfortunately, things between the two characters quickly got complicated.
SPOILER ALERT FOR DRAGON’S HOUSELAST EPISODES
In the fourth episode of the series, the two have become lovers, complicating each other’s relationship. When it is specified that Rhenyra must marry her cousin Laenor Velaryon, Criston Cole offers her to run away, which she coldly rejects. This eventually boils over during Rhenyra’s wedding feast where Cole brutally beats Laenor’s secret lover to death.
What made Ser Criston Cole break down?
During an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Criston Cole actor Fabien Frankel commented on the shocking Dragon House moment, noting that his character wasn’t actively trying to hurt anyone and wanted to be as far away from the events as possible:
“I don’t think he’s looking for any form of conflict in this marriage at all. If anything, he wants to be as far away as humanly possible.
Later, Fabien Frankel speculated that it wasn’t so much the fact that Rhaenyra rejected Criston Cole as the way she rejected him:
“I don’t think it’s because [Rhaenyra] says she won’t go with him. I think that’s how she says she won’t go with him. This scene could so easily have been written [as] he asks her to run away with him, she understands why he feels this way, she can’t give up her role as queen, but what she will offer him is a way out if he wishes to leave the Kingsguard. This could well be the scenario that occurs. This is not the case. It is very interesting for me. She chose to keep it there. She made him resist this marriage. This is where the animosity rises.
Here is the synopsis of Dragon House:
Based on the book Fire & Blood by George RR Martin, the series will tell the story of House Targaryen (aka the House that gave us the Mother of Dragons herself, Daenerys Targaryen) and will be set 300 years before the events of Game Of Thrones.
Miguel Sapochnik and Ryan J. Condal are co-showrunners on Dragon House and are executive producers alongside George RR Martin. The series features a star-studded cast that includes Matt Smith, Olivia Cooke, Emma D’Arcy, Paddy Considine, Rhys Ifans, Steve Toussaint, Eve Best and Sonoya Mizuno.
New episodes of Dragon House premieres on HBO and HBO Max every Sunday at 9 ET. Stay tuned for all the latest news on the series and be sure to subscribe to Heroic Hollywood’s YouTube channel for more original video content.
