You can always count on any Game of Thrones series to have its share of despicable characters. The original had King Joffrey and Cersei Lannister and the dreaded Ramsay Bolton; A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms introduced us to the odiously cruel Aerion Targaryen. House of the Dragon likewise has plenty of people fans love to hate—and at the top of that list, until very recently, was the bitter, grudge-obsessed Ser Criston Cole.
Cole, played by Fabian Frankel, entered the story as an upstart tournament champion and was hand-picked by a teenage Rhaenyra to join King Viserys’ Kingsguard. After a brief romance, the princess rejected Cole’s offer to run away with him—a decision based mostly on her duty to the realm as her father’s heir. There was also the issue of Cole being the son of a steward, making him from a class inferior to the ruling Targaryens. Needless to say, he was insulted when she offered to keep him around as her side piece, and his hatred of her only grew as she became an adult.
His subsequent affair with Alicent—Rhaenyra’s former best friend and King Viserys’ widow—dovetailed perfectly with his fierce loyalty to Team Green, as did his willingness to lead the Hightower army as the Dance of the Dragons got underway. As season two came to a close, and Cole got his first look at how dragons can devastate a battlefield, he started to embrace the inevitability of his own death. Though he forged a friendship with Alicent’s brother, Gwayne (who, it’s implied, may have wished for something more than friendship), Cole became determined to fight to the end.
In episode six, “Faceless Men,” that came to a head when the dwindling, exhausted Highgarden host walked right into a trap set by Team Black. The first to perish was Cole, who’s quickly felled by arrows, including one that plunges directly into his cheek.
It was startling in the moment—but not much of a surprise, considering House of the Dragon had been foreshadowing Cole’s end for some time. But in a new interview with the Hollywood Reporter, Frankel said he was surprised by all the well wishes he’d been getting since the episode aired since, until very recently, he’d been weathering so much of the opposite.
“Obviously as an actor, you try to have a thick skin, but the reality is, it’s hard. It’s hard to disassociate from the character sometimes when the fans have such an animosity toward Criston Cole,” Frankel said. “It can be difficult to separate yourself from it. So it’s not just lovely, it’s actually quite unexpected, if I’m being honest. It’s very touching. I’m very moved by all of the outpouring of love from my friends, my family, and the fans. It’s very different from the last five years of pure hatred, I’ll tell you that! I’m glad people realize I’m not Criston.”
And, for what it’s worth, Frankel genuinely enjoyed his time on House of the Dragon. “That’s something I really want to say: as tough as it was at times to feel the wrath of such a powerful fanbase, this was a great role,” he told THR. “I will always rather play a part that rubs people the wrong way and makes people think and makes people angry than play someone people are apathetic toward. There’s no nihilism from the fanbase toward Criston Cole, that’s for sure. That, to me, is a joy.”
Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.
