‘House of the Dragon’ Star Fabien Frankel on Playing Kingmaker

This interview includes spoilers for the first nine episodes of “House of the Dragon.”

To this day, Fabien Frankel doesn’t really know how he wound up on “House of the Dragon.”

“I got an email from my agent that said ‘Untitled HBO Television Series,’” he said. He was asked to audition for a character named “Clint.”

Wearing all black, the startlingly photogenic English actor, who plays the lethal Kingsguard knight Ser Criston Cole, settled back into a couch at HBO’s New York headquarters last week to continue the story. “I did the audition, and heard nothing back other than that they were looking for a slightly more Jason Momoa type for the part. That certainly wasn’t me, and I really didn’t think about it again.”

Six months later, by which point the word was out that a “Game of Thrones” prequel was in the works, he was offered the part. “What I still don’t know, and I’m fascinated to know, is whether they couldn’t find their Jason Momoa type, or if they decided to change their casting brief. If the opportunity arises to ask them, I will.”

Judging from how things have been going in Westeros, Frankel has time to spare. In the show’s most recent episode, his Ser Criston struck the first blow in the internecine conflict for control of Westeros — known as the Dance of the Dragons in George R.R. Martin’s source novel, “Fire & Blood” — and placed the crown on the head of the new king, the creepy Aegon II (Tom Glynn-Carney). In the book, this earns Cole the sobriquet of “Kingmaker.” To hear Frankel tell it, though, the acclaim has not yet hit home.

These are edited excerpts from the conversation.

“House of the Dragon” is an enormous hit. How has your life changed?

My life in London is more or less the same. I’m probably getting slightly more calls from my agents, and a weekly call from my brother and friends to talk about the episodes. But my day-to-day life is not very different at all.

London’s a good city at keeping you grounded because people tend to be quite private and un-invasive. You hear all these stories of, “I couldn’t walk down the street,” but I don’t have any of that. I can count on two hands the amount of times people on the street have taken notice.

I’m a bit surprised to hear that. I’m not sure if you’ve noticed, but you’ve become kind of a sex symbol among the fandom.

I haven’t. I mean, I suppose it was inevitable for whoever was going to have a romance with Rhaenyra [the princess who seduces Cole, played by Milly Alcock and, later, Emma D’Arcy], but I can tell you now that no one in my close circle is swooning.

Let’s talk about Ser Criston’s journey from one side of the conflict to the other. When he first becomes romantically involved with Rhaenyra, he seems a little idealistic, a little naïve.

I never felt that he was naïve. I felt that he was taken out of a life he understood into a life he didn’t.

He’s a soldier. In the army, you don’t just become a sergeant or a captain; you work to become a sergeant or a captain. In King’s Landing, it’s hereditary names, titles, people who haven’t earned the right to be anywhere. You take this character, who has nothing in common with that entire world, and put him in the central circle. It takes him a beat to figure things out.

Then, obviously, there is a darkness within him that a certain moment triggers, and he becomes what he is.

Why does he react so fanatically when Rhaenyra rejects his marriage proposal and counters with a sort of indecent proposal of her own?

There’s nothing extraordinary about it: He’s asked a girl to run away with him, and he’s been told no. That’s the basis. It doesn’t matter who she is — they’re two kids, and they’re young, and he has very strong feelings for her. And she said, “No, but I’ll keep you on the side, do what I need to do,” which is disrespectful unto itself.

My justification, and this is probably somewhat controversial, was that Rhaenyra could have let him go at the end of that conversation, or at some point before her wedding. Instead, she made him sit through the whole thing. And he flips. It becomes very evident that he has a temper that we had not yet seen. That temper, for reasons he feels are profound, makes him flip.

I like how you put it earlier, that there’s a darkness within him. It’s much closer to the surface now than it used to be.

Yes. The sourness and bitterness of this world has washed off on him. You are your surroundings; you are the people you’re surrounded by. Ser Criston happens to be surrounded by an incredibly ambitious group of very Machiavellian human beings whose sole ambition is power. Eventually, you go: “Well, that’s the life I live. That’s what I am now. I’m in too deep.”

And you become the Kingmaker. You draw first blood in the conflict between the so-called “Greens” and “Blacks,” bashing in the head of poor Lord Beesbury (Bill Paterson). Was that an accident, or did Cole kill him on purpose?

I don’t want to say. If it comes from me, then it’s decided, and I’d rather “House of the Dragon” fans, who are so astute, watch it and decide for themselves.

Then he puts the crown on King Aegon II’s head in full view of the public. He’s famous now. Is that a role he embraces?

I think he sees it as his duty, by proxy of being Alicent’s sworn protector, to protect these boys. He’s been very close to a father figure to them. Criston Cole taught these kids to fight, taught these kids respect. There’s that bit where Aemond [Aegon’s younger brother, played by Ewan Mitchell] is talking, and Criston didn’t like how he was speaking, and he says something like — I don’t remember ——

“Every woman is an image of the Mother, to be spoken of with reverence.”

Yes. So I think that’s his duty now. He doesn’t want to be a big star or very famous. It’s not in his nature. That’s just what happened.

That’s a very funny line given what we’ve seen and heard from Criston.

I’m glad you found it funny because I remember thinking it was hilarious. There was a conversation between Sara [Hess, the episode’s writer]; Clare [Kilner], our director; and myself when we were in Spain shooting that scene about how it should be delivered. I said it can only be funny. I mean, he’s not exactly proved that every woman is an image of the Mother.

That sequence really built up the relationship between Criston and Aegon’s kid brother, Aemond One-Eye. There’s a mutual respect there, even among such shifty characters.

Criston sees Aemond in himself, and himself in Aemond. Ewan and I talked a lot about that. He and I would spend a lot of time together, walking around Spain together, discussing this relationship. There’s a real closeness between them.

They’re also the two coolest characters on the Green side, to be honest.

Oh, mate, I’m loving you saying that. I’m very Team Green, and proud of it. That’s kind of how I’m programmed to think now. I’m glad to hear there’s some love for the Greens out there. I think we are a force to be reckoned with. It’s a good solid crew. I’d back us in a street fight.

Perhaps it’s too late at this point to ask, but does some part of Ser Criston still love Rhaenyra?

[Smiles ruefully.] First love is first love. I think everyone will always love the person that they fell in love with for the first time. From the first time you hear a beautiful piece of music, you’ll always love it, even if you’ve heard it a hundred times, because you remember that first time you heard it. So yeah, he will always love Rhaenyra.