A wedding in Westeros is never good news and fans have learned to expect the unexpected. So, when the latest episode of House of the Dragon debuted, fans expected the sparks to fly but kudos to the makers who forefronted the underdogs of the series and managed to take the fans by surprise. During episode 5, ‘We Light the Way,’ while on one hand, Alicent (Emily Carey) decided to protest against the dragons with her green dress, Ser Criston Cole took the bloody way out! In a new interview with Entertainment Weekly, actor Fabien Frankel described Ser Criston's actions as more impulsive and reactionary than premeditated.
Right from Episode 1, Ser Criston Cole is set up as a well-meaning knight who is building everything from scratch and takes his duty to protect Rhaenyra (Milly Alcock) very seriously. However, what’s exciting for Frankel was that "he's very much set up as one thing, and as the show goes on, [that] changes a great deal.” During Episode 4, ‘King of the Narrow Sea,’ we see Rhaenyra’s advancements towards the Knight which ultimately results in him breaking his oath of chastity. When the Princess' wedding to Laenor (Theo Nate) draws near, he asks her to elope with him to Essos to get married. While Rhaenyra is bound by her duty, the actor thinks “it's the way in which she says she won't go away with him,” that creates animosity. He explains, “She chose to keep him there. She made him stand through that wedding. That's where the animosity builds.”
In retrospect, when Maester Aemon said during the original series, "love is the death of duty," nobody thought it could also apply to Rhaenyra's Knight. While Ser Criston is already hurt by the Princess' actions, his ultimate breaking point comes when Laenor's lover, Joffrey Lonmouth (Solly McLeod) tips him further into his emotionally raw state, that ultimately ends up in the latter’s death. Though Frankel explains, "I don't think he's searching for any form of conflict at this wedding at all. If anything, he wants to be as far away as humanly possible." Frankel also revealed a very interesting aspect of the character he discussed with co-showrunner Miguel Sapochnik who described Criston as a “thug.” The actor reveals that in his character arc, "he would lose his thuggishness as the show went on and he developed an understanding of the Machiavellian politics of this world."
As for the Knight's future, after being saved by Alicent (Emily Carey), the actor is very excited as in a week's time, when the series takes another time jump, the audience is going to change their opinion of him. He explains, “You have a very interesting dynamic of someone who is overhearing every conversation that is happening, be it when he's on the side of Rhaenyra or on the side of any of the other characters. And slowly as the show goes on... Criston Cole I believe, will become a very integral part of the Dance of the Dragons."
The new episode of House of the Dragon will drop on September 25. Meanwhile, you can check out the new teaser below: