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Spoilers follow for the third season of House of the Dragon through the sixth episode, “Faceless Men,” which premiered on HBO on July 26.
Criston Cole was marching toward his annihilation, and now that march is over. In “Faceless Men,” Aegon’s Hand of the King, Aemond’s former mentor, and the self-described “realm’s greatest warrior” tries to talk his way into one more duel and gets three arrows — including one to his face — for his trouble. It’s a slightly tweaked version of how Cole dies in George R.R. Martin’s Fire & Blood, the source material for House of the Dragon. And it will probably inspire a cackle from Cole-hating viewers delighted that this man who slept with, and betrayed, both Team Black Queen Rhaenyra and Team Green Dowager Queen Alicent is killed in the series (unlike in the book) by a woman, archer Alysanne Blackwood (Annie Shapero).
Fabien Frankel won’t try to defend Cole; he understands his character was divisive. (And he has his own theory as to how Cole would have reacted if he knew his killer was a woman.) But with Cole’s absence, HOTD will lose a link to non-Targaryen opinions on the dance; in this third season, his beleaguered and weary soldier frequently reflected the realm’s widespread exhaustion with the ongoing war. In that milieu of despair, going out on your own terms is an admirable desire — even if Cole doesn’t exactly get the ending that he wants from Roddy the Ruin (Tommy Flanagan) and Oscar Tully (Archie Barnes).
“He’s been so selfish,” Frankel says. “He led his men on this wild-goose chase, with the knowledge that they may all die, and when it finally came down to it, these guys who are still standing are who stood with him from the beginning. He doesn’t think it’s fair that they should lose their lives, now they’ve made it to this point, in this unfair way.”
That failed fight was the last scene Frankel filmed for HOTD. He recently wrapped an A24 horror movie from director Arkasha Stevenson, and his production company, Marcel Monique Pictures, is releasing Still Life, a short film starring Frankel’s HOTD castmate Ewan Mitchell. “I’m not unemployed just yet, thank God,” Frankel says, laughing. “But when we got to the read-through and I saw everyone’s faces when they read ‘Criston Cole dies’ — suddenly I was looking at all my friends who I’d been working with for six years, and there was a tinge of, shit, this really is it. I watched episode six two days ago, on my own, and had a true moment of taking that in.”
Would you change anything about your death scene?
The scene we shot is very accurate to the book, and that’s what I wanted. There was a line in the book that I really liked: “Three of you against the one of me; will that be enough to make a fight of it?” We changed it to, “Two of you against one of me; will that be enough to make a fight of it?,” but that wasn’t in the original draft. It was either that, or it might have been my line, “If I strike my banners, will you spare my men their lives?” Those were great lines in the book. Cole in the book is a gray character — he’s not necessarily as controversial as he is in our story. I thought there was an honor to what he was saying in the book, and Ryan Condal and Sara Hess were very adaptable. As soon as I mentioned it, they threw it in.
What were your first reactions to the fight sequence, and how did you prepare for it?
It was something I really wanted to see. Criston Cole is so revered as a warrior in the book, and I’m so grateful his final moments are him in full action. Stunt scenes are a joy. It’s a rush to learn them. So much work goes in, and it’s such an amazing stunt team that we have. We started looking at it two months before we shot it. He used the flail against Daemon in season one, but it wasn’t something that we’d seen again, I don’t think.
Were you relearning how to use the flail?
Did I ever really know how to use it? [Laughs] Who knows? You pretend. I’m lucky enough that I’ve been able to do a few fight scenes, and I did a lot of stage combat in drama school. I have a foundation that is useful, but ultimately, these things are brand-new.
The scene is organized into certain beats, as Cole fights various people and then takes a breath between some of them.
I sometimes feel that in movies, you see fighters who don’t seem exhausted, as the routines are so well learned. I wanted it to look exhausting, however proficient he is. I’ve done these fights — they are exhausting, and I’m doing them with fake plastic weapons with stuntmen who know what they’re doing. It’s not a guessing game. In real life, not only is it a guessing game entirely, but the weapons are 15 times the weight, and they’re not given matcha lattes in between takes. The fight was three days. I wanted it to feel labored; all that was stuff I came up with while filming. We shot a lot of that fight as a oner. When we spoke with the choreographers, we decided on the moments to break up the fight and see his exhaustion. You’re trying to fill those voids in the action.
Cole pulls Alicent’s embroidered handkerchief out of his sleeve and wraps his sword hand in it. I’m assuming you were not actually carrying this handkerchief the entire season.
I think we just popped it in for that scene. [Laughs] Alicent saved his life in season one, when he was going to kill himself after having murdered Joffrey Lonmouth at the wedding. If that’s who saved you from yourself at your lowest possible moment, it makes a lot of sense that a representation of that is the thing you look at in your final moment. It feels very full circle. It seems only apt that if he knows he’s going to die, that would be the thing he wishes to hold.
I want to know about the arrow to the face and how that worked.
They put the arrow in before the shot, and then it’s done in post. No arrow is entering my face in real time, as I’m sure you can imagine. It was two hours in makeup. That really is what I shot last. [Laughs] Dude, when they put out the behind-the-scenes, I have an arrow in my face and a fake eye for Ryan’s speech, my farewell speech, my good-bye to the crew, and my thank-you to the cast.
Did you and Annie Shapero, who plays Alysanne Blackwood, speak at all?
I don’t even know if we ever spoke a word to each other. We might have said “hello” in hair and makeup, but I was in my own thing then. I’m by no means that kind of actor, but there was a feeling of isolation I wanted to experience at that time. You’re getting into the headspace of exhaustion.
You’ve said you don’t pay attention much to what fans say anymore, but as you mentioned earlier, Cole is divisive. There are some fans who think Cole is a misogynist and are probably happy that a woman killed him. Do you have any thoughts on that?
It’s inevitable that you are going to find things you disagree with in the actions of the people you play. But from a character perspective, it’s useless as an actor to judge your character. Many people will feel that Cole’s death is much deserved, and I won’t sit here and say that I think that they have no foundation on which to believe that. I always ask myself, “What would I feel about Criston Cole if I weren’t on the show and I was just watching it as a fan?,” and I just don’t have an answer. I don’t have an answer for any of the characters I’ve played. You have to root for them to some extent.
What do you think Cole would think about being killed by a woman? Does he have an opinion on it one way or another?
You want to know the truth? I think he’d be quite thrilled. I won’t say more.
Here’s what I think: Sex and violence are very mixed up for Cole. And I could see him being like, She’s hot, actually.
Your words, not mine. [Laughs]
How did you feel about your episode-five speech, in terms of your journey as an actor on the show?
It was my favorite. I’ve been really lucky with two beautiful speeches. The end of season two, where I talked about how the dragons dance and men are like dust under their feet, and then this speech. Those two are by far the most poetic and powerful words I’ve gotten to speak on the show. The plan to do this whole thing on the ground, man-to-man, no dragons, then along the way, the bridges burning, losing the horses — it gets harder and harder. The episode-five speech is what he’s really been feeling underneath all this, and it speaks to much more than just this moment.
Cole declines Gwayne Hightower’s offer to serve his house and move to Oldtown. How did you decide on Cole’s calmness when saying “no”?
I think Cole has an affection for Gwayne. Initially, when you meet Gwayne, certainly when I read it, I felt, Here we go, another posh, entitled member of the landed gentry who’s going to come and belittle all the smallfolk. But with what they went through at Rook’s Rest, Gwayne ends up being someone who Cole genuinely sees as willing to go to the darkest depths with him — until he finally decides it’s too much. I think there is genuine affection for the fact that Gwayne has made this offer to him. I wasn’t wanting it to feel dismissive, but very matter-of-fact and very grateful. He doesn’t feel the need to explain himself for his actions, but he felt he owed it to Gwayne.
Are you aware that some people ship Gwayne and Cole?
I am not aware of it, but Freddie Fox and I are aware of our feelings about Gwayne and Cole. I don’t know that the writers feel necessarily that that’s something they want out there, but I will speak on behalf of Freddie and myself: We back that belief as far as people want to take it.
A colleague told me, “Gwayne is inviting Criston to live with him in Oldtown.” I wasn’t sure if I saw that, but I’m hearing I might have been wrong.
Freddie did absolutely see that. Freddie has felt that way; there’s definitely an arc that Freddie has been aware of. I don’t want to put words in his mouth, but certainly he and I have had conversations about Gwayne’s feelings for Cole, and that they have developed into more than just camaraderie and a professional working relationship.
Are there any deleted Cole scenes that you can tell me about?
There were definitely a few; it’s the nature of the beast. I know I’m not on my own in that; I’m sure there are other actors in the show who felt equally sad to lose moments. In episode one, Gwayne says, “This woman’s been raped in the camp,” and Cole says, “All men become beasts before our end.” That’s how the scene ends in the edit that went out. But in the actual scene, Gwayne says, “Only if they lose their dignity” or something of that sort, and Cole says, “Bring the raper to me.” That was a piece of humanity that was very useful in not making him feel like he suddenly doesn’t care about everything. I was sad to see that go.
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