In the sixth episode of its third season, House of the Dragon finally gave viewers a moment they had been begging for for years: the death of Ser Criston Cole, the bitter Kingsguard knight played by Fabien Frankel. Over the course of three seasons, Criston went from Rhaenyra Targaryen's sworn shield, to her lover, to her worst enemy; then he became the lover of Alicent Hightower, the commander of the Kingsguard, the Hand of the King, and the most prominent battlefield commander for the Greens. Few characters on this series have had such a sprawling arc as Criston, nor have they ignited so much ire from audiences for their actions.
In that way, Criston remains one of the best characters in the show: a man fans can love to hate, even as they find themselves sympathizing with him by the time of his brutal ending.
House of the Dragon season 3 episode 6, "Faceless Men," gave Criston the demise he'd been seeking right at the start of the episode. Over the course of the third season, we've watched as Criston committed to the idea of a doomed march through the enemy-controlled Riverlands, all in the hope that he could go out in a blaze of glory while simultaneously putting an end to his misery. He got his wish at a battle known as the Butcher's Ball, where Black Aly (Annie Shapero) shot him full of arrows before the Black army of Rivermen and Winter Wolves slaughtered what was left of his weary soldiers.
The root of much Criston's woe goes back to the Battle at Rook's Rest, where he commanded the Green army in the first major clash of the civil war. Despite the success of his plan to trap one of Rhaenyra Targaryen's dragronriders, Criston watched many of his men trampled like ants or turned to ash by the dragons. It shattered his worldview and drove him into a deep depression, which was illustrated beautifully by his final monologue of season 2.
"The dragons dance, and men are like dust under their feet. And all our fine thoughts, all our endeavors are as nothing. We march now toward our annihilation."Criston Cole in House of the Dragon S2
The nuance of that scene and arc as a whole made Criston extremely compelling in season 2. But much of that depth went out the window this season, where he became much more one note despite a fantastic performance from Frankel.
There were hints that something was getting lost in translation. Ahead of the season, Frankel was asked about Criston's code, especially in regards to a scene in the season premiere where he decided to let one of his men go without punishment after they raped a village girl in the Riverlands.
“It was a bit of a turn that I didn’t expect. But, you know, the writers want to keep me unlikable, man, and they want to keep my career derailed," Frankel joked. "Anytime we try to bring a little bit of humanity to the thing, Ryan [Condal] and Sara [Hess] just want me f—king really down in the dumps,”
Now it's becoming clearer what he meant. Since his character's death, multiple interviews with Frankel have dropped, and they contained details for two instances where the show filmed material to give Criston Cole extra nuance, but then cut or altered them during postproduction.
The first and most directly relevant for season 3 came during that aforementioned scene in the season premiere, where Gwayne Hightower (Freddie Fox) goes to Cole to report the assault of the village girl by one of their men. In the episode that aired, Cole acts indifferently and gives no indication that he is planning to even do as little as reprimand the soldier; he just seems consigned to the fact that they'll all become "beasts" before their end in this grim, terrible war. It turns out there was a bit more to the scene, which totally changed its outcome. Frankel wasn't kidding when he said Cole's indifference was "a bit of a turn that I didn't expect" — because that isn't what he filmed.
"There were definitely some; it's the nature of the business," Frankel told Vulture when asked about deleted scenes. "I know I'm not alone in this; I'm sure there are other actors in the series who were just as sad to lose certain moments. In the first episode, Gwayne says: 'This woman was raped in the camp,' and Cole responds: 'All men become beasts before our end.' That's how the scene ends in the aired edit. But in the original scene, Gwayne says: 'Only if they lose their dignity,' or something like that, and Cole says: 'Bring the rapist to me.' That was a touch of humanity that would have been very useful to avoid making it seem like he suddenly stopped caring about everything. I was sad to see that get cut."
A key scene between Criston Cole and Alicent Hightower was cut from season 2
In a different interview with The New York Times, Frankel shed light on another scene which would have lent Criston a bit more humanity. And unlike the moment between Gwayne and Criston during the season 3 premiere, this one was removed entirely.
"There was a scene that never made it into the cut, where Criston goes to Alicent’s quarters and collapses crying in her arms, and she holds him like a child," Frankel recalled. "The nature of the beast is that sometimes scenes just don’t make it. But for me as an actor, I remember doing that scene with Olivia. It was the final scene of the whole of Season 2, and we wrapped as soon as the scene wrapped. I felt that was the moment: the admission of all the wrongdoing, all of the guilt, all of the realization that ultimately his annihilation is his own doing. He’s caused and created so much of the mayhem around him."
It's hard to imagine how differently audiences might feel about Criston with a scene like this in the show. Yes, he's often done utterly reprehensible things, but seeing him show that kind of remorse would have gone a long way toward humanizing him. Criston's arc for season 2 was good, but with this moment between him and Alicent, it could have been even better.
It also would have added more impact to Criston's final moment, where he wraps Alicent's favor around his sword hilt before Black Aly shoots him full of arrows. We saw Criston and Alicent share several scenes in season 2, including sex scenes that showed their intimate relationship. But as The New York Times interviewer Sean T. Collins points out, Criston's final thoughts being so firmly on Alicent is almost surprising in the show as it stands, because their relationship hasn't gotten that much development. Regardless, it makes sense to Frankel, who not only has all the scenes from the finishe show in his mind, but all those they shot and left on the cutting room floor as well.
"I don’t know, man. I’ve been in love a small handful of times, and it’s very hard to think about anything else," Frankel said. "The people you think about when the end is near are the people you love. He doesn’t have a father, a mother, siblings, a wife, children. Whathasthis man loved? Alicent is the only true thing he’s loved. It doesn’t feel surprising to me that she’s so prevalent in his final moments."
Two episodes remain in House of the Dragon season 3. They premiere Sundays on HBO and HBO Max.
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