Criston Cole feels "a great deal of guilt" over big event in House of the Dragon season 2

The second season of House of the Dragon will air in just a few days, and the first episode, "A Son for a Son," sounds like it's going to be an absolute banger. And if you've read George R.R. Martin's book Fire & Blood, you can probably guess why.

A brief recap: at the end of season 1, Aemond Targaryen (Ewan Mitchell) killed his nephew Lucerys Velaryon (Elliot Grihault), which enraged Luke's mother Queen Rhaenyra Targaryen (Emma D'Arcy). There's now no way to avoid a war between Rhaenyra and her younger half-brother Aegon Targaryen (Tom Glynn-Carney), with whom she is competing for the Iron Throne.

In the season 2 premiere, it sounds like Rhaenyra will be in mourning for Luke. However, Rhaenyra's husband Daemon (Matt Smith) is more hot-blooded. In the book, he wants to strike back at Aegon, Aemond, and all the people who would steal Rhaenyra's throne. (Beware major SPOILERS ahead.) He arranges to hire a couple of mercenaries named Blood and Cheese to sneak into the Red Keep and kill one of King Aegon's children, promising that he will deliver Rhaenyra "a son for a son." Long story short: Blood and Cheese are successful in this mission. They sneak into the Red Keep and kill one of Aegon's kids in front of their mother, Queen Helaena Targaryen (Phia Saban), in a scene that will surely horrify everyone watching at home.

Blood and Cheese and Criston and Alicent

We don't quite know exactly how the Blood and Cheese scene will go down, but cast member Fabien Frankel — who plays the Lord Commander of King Aegon's Kingsguard, Criston Cole — gave us some cryptic clues when talking to Jamie Broadnax of Black Girl Nerds. I don't want to be accused of misrepresenting anything, so I'll just transcribe what Frankel says.

According to Frankel, after "the last couple of scenes" of the season 2 premiere, "Criston Cole feels a great deal of guilt about his responsibility and that whole event happening, and that I think is gonna be very much the catalyst in his actions in the following four episodes."

"Cause he's in there with Alicent...[H]e should have been there standing sentry, and he wasn't. One of the first lines that Aegon has to Cole is like, 'And where were you? [You were] supposed to be protecting my family.' And little does he know, obviously, that Cole is...[clears throat]."

What, obviously, is Cole doing? Matt Smith, who is being interviewed alongside Frankel, pitches in: "Well, in a way..."

So what can we take from this exchange? First, I'm assuming that the "whole event" Frankel is talking about here is the Blood and Cheese scene, which it sounds like will happen in the season 2 premiere. Second, it's interesting that Frankel says that he's "with Alicent" when this event goes down, referring to Alicent Hightower (Olivia Cooke), the mother of King Aegon and Queen Helaena and the grandmother of their children. In Fire & Blood, Alicent is in the room with Helaena and the kids when Blood and Cheese execute on their plan, but on the show it sounds like she'll be elsewhere with Criston.

And what are Criston and Alicent doing while Blood and Cheese wreck their havoc? Smith seems to suggest that Cole was protecting King Aegon's family..."in a way."

I'll let you draw your own conclusions about what that means. We'll all find out for sure when House of the Dragon season 2 premieres on HBO and Max on Sunday, June 16.

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