House of the Dragon boss reveals why they cut key Criston Cole scene

It’s no secret that there are plenty of deleted scenes from HBO’s Game of Thrones prequel series House of the Dragon. We did a round-up of some of the juiciest just recently, but until the home video release of the show’s first season — which is reported to contain the deleted scenes, presumably in a featurette — all we can do is pore over what few images and details we have.

And we just got a lot more. Entertainment Weekly has revealed an excerpt from the upcoming book House of the Dragon: Inside the Creation of a Targaryen Dynasty, an officially licensed making-of book written by Gina McIntyre and published by Insight Editions. It contains new details about Criston Cole’s induction into the Kingsguard, a scene that was filmed for House of the Dragon but ultimately left on the cutting room floor.

Behind the scenes of Criston Cole’s secret Kingsguard oath ceremony

“Choosing your Kingsguard, your bodyguard, is very important, but it’s indicative of this time period — where they haven’t seen a war in over half a century — that Viserys just fobs off this really important choice to his daughter to try to give her something to do to make her feel like she has weight and significance,” showrunner Ryan Condal said in EW’s exclusive book excerpt. “It’s a story of small choices that lead to big things. She picks Criston Cole, who later becomes the reason she nearly gets disinherited, and becomes one of her worst enemies.”

Originally, the team planned for Criston to take his Kingsguard oath in front of a crowd of onlookers. But due to scheduling conflicts and COVID-19 concerns, the scene was reworked to just include Paddy Considine (King Viserys), Ser Harrold Westerling (Graham McTavish), Milly Alcock (young Rhaenyra Targaryen), and Cole himself (Fabien Frankel).

“We were like, ‘What if we make it like a secret society? It’s done under the cover of night,'” said Episode 2 director Greg Yaitanes. “It’s almost like he’s joining a secret order, is how we approached it.”

"We got a more emotional scene than we would have if we would have spent more time shooting this other version. It’s a father-daughter bonding moment where Viserys and Rhaenyra are engaged in an activity together, and it’s a beautiful scene for Cole."

Fabian Frankel weighed in as well: “That’s the moment really when Cole is initiated into the Targaryen family.” For better or worse.

Why did House of the Dragon cut Criston Cole’s Kingsguard scene?

Frankel previously said that Criston’s Kingsguard induction ceremony was cut because of a camera issue, but showrunner Ryan Condal tells a different story in this new book. According to Condal, Ser Criston’s Kinsguard ceremony was cut because “it felt tonally wrong to include a ‘win’ for Rhaenyra before Dragonstone.”

Much of Episode 2 revolved around Rhaenyra being overlooked despite the fact that she is now heir to the Iron Throne. It all leads to her taking her dragon Syrax out to confront her uncle Daemon on Dragonstone. It seems like the creative team thought that including Criston taking his oaths — which happens because of Rhaenyra choosing him for the job — would have undercut her later victory with Daemon.

It’s a shame, though, because seeing Criston swear his oaths could have underlined how important they were to him, which would help us understand why he feels torn up about violating them later.

House of the Dragon: Inside the Creation of a Targaryen Dynasty is due out on January 31 and is now available for pre-order.

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