Warning: This story contains major spoilers for House of the Dragon Season 3, Episode 2. Please proceed with caution!
Lord Corlys Velaryon, aka the Sea Snake, may still be fighting for Rhaenyra Targaryen in House of the Dragon, but Steve Toussaint says their characters’ relationship is only getting more complicated.
With the second episode ending as Queen Rhaenyra (Emma D’Arcy) takes control of the Iron Throne, Toussaint tells Gold Derby that Corlys will soon be forced to “reassess where he is at, and what his role should be in this whole conflict.” Yes, the Sea Snake remains loyal to House Targaryen, but he’s growing more uneasy about the personal cost of standing too close to Rhaenyra.
Toussaint also weighs in on one of the premiere’s most talked-about moments: the incestuous kiss between Alicent (Olivia Cooke) and Aemond (Ewan Mitchell) that made fans cringe. While he notes that House of the Dragon exists in a world without conventional boundaries, he still calls the scene “shocking” and “weird.”
From Toussaint’s “movie moment” during the action-packed Battle of the Gullet, to Corlys feeling “defeated” after losing his castle and worldly possessions, the British actor has plenty to say about the first two episodes of House of the Dragon Season 3.
Gold Derby: In Episode 2, the camera does a close-up of Corlys’ face as he declares, “If this be victory, I hope I never see another.” How defeated is he in that moment?
Steve Toussaint: I think he’s very defeated. Possibly, for the first time, he’s realizing the overall futility of war generally, and the cost of war to everybody — so-called winners and losers. And, of course, the cost to him of this particular struggle that he has become involved in through his kinship with the Targaryen family after the promise he made to his late wife that he would support Rhaenyra. I liken it back to an earlier scene when he says to his wife, “Why don’t we just take hold of our stuff, go back home with our grandkids and enjoy ourselves, and leave these people to do their thing?” And she convinces him that this is the right thing. That’s kind of where he’s at. It’s not worth it. The cost is too great.
After his castle is destroyed by Lohar’s soldiers, he has nothing to pass down to his children except for his name. But as it turns out, that’s all they want. How did that moment affect you?
That whole arc thus far has been lovely in the sense that, for so long, he has thought that material things are what make people happy. Eve [Best] and I had so many conversations about this, and I can’t remember if this is in the script or if this is her saying it, that all she wants is for him just to be there. And I think that’s the same with, at this stage in their lives, Alyn and Addam. They just wanted to be acknowledged and have their dad recognize them, and it’s better late than never. What I like about this thing is the evolution of Corlys and how he learns to understand what’s the most important.
What was it like filming on the beach with Corlys and his family? It was like a family reunion!
Yeah, absolutely. The one thing that’s been consistent about Corlys from the start is the importance of family. At the beginning, it was the importance of family as a means of getting power, and continuing the Velaryon line. But at this stage, it’s just that idea of having people close to you. Without his wife, he has been so rudderless, so bereft, not sure who he is and who he can turn to. Now he’s reaching out and going, “Well, I do have these blood relatives.” I really like that scene, because that is his wealth. It’s the same for all of us. Your wealth is in your family and the people whose lives you affect.
How do you think Corlys’ relationship with Rhaenyra will evolve now that their team has taken back the Iron Throne?
Since she became the declared heir to the throne, it’s always been a complicated relationship. Much as he really believes in her claim, he thinks there’s something about her that draws catastrophe and damage. His son has died through his marriage to her. He’s lost his daughter by the fact she was married to Daemon. He thinks there’s just something wrong with that family. While he acknowledges her claim and the fact that she is, on the whole, trying to do the right thing, he feels he’d be better off further and further away from her. Later on, he has to assess the sacrifice that he feels he has made for her cause, and the lack of return for it. And that does cause him to reassess where he is at, and what his role should be in this whole conflict.
Let’s backtrack to the Battle of the Gullet in the season premiere. What was your reaction when you initially read the script for this incredibly epic sequence?
To be honest, my reaction was something like, “Oh my god, this is amazing. But how are they gonna do this? They can’t, it’s ridiculous.” I got a call from Loni [Peristere], our director, who said, “I want to talk you through what we’re going to be doing, and what we’ve built, and so forth.” I went down, way before we started shooting, and saw the dry tank, and the wet tank was under construction. He showed me all the little models and all the pre-visuals that they had computer-generated. And I was just like, “Just point me in the direction of who I have to kill, because I just want to kill people.”
What was the most challenging part of filming on the ship?
The fact that the ship was never still. They built three models altogether: my ship, Lohar’s ship, and the ship that split in half. The ship was always tilting, always moving, and there was all of this water and supposed blood on the deck. They threw in a load of corpses, plus a myriad of stunt performers. I was trying to remember the choreography that we’d learned and put it into a real place. Surprisingly, in this country, we have occasional heat waves. So when you’re wearing all of that armor, and the blue tunic underneath, and the chain mail, and the weapons — there are worse things in the world, but it was tough.
And the wig!
And the wig, absolutely. [Laughs] At the end of the day, when you took all that stuff off, there was like a pool of water around your feet, and you knew you’d been working hard.
When Corlys takes charge and maneuvers the ship through the rocky pass, it feels like a blockbuster movie. What was your take on that moment?
I loved it, because this is probably the first time we’ve had a chance to see Corlys doing what he does well. In the history of it, Corlys made his first solo voyage at the age of 12 or something like that, and so the idea that he knows that route basically by heart, I thought it was great. Loni would be like, “This is your movie moment,” or words to that effect. My first time seeing it was actually in a big movie theater because of the premiere, and it was amazing.
Do you ever get jealous that so many of the other actors get to have these moments riding on dragons, and Corlys doesn’t?
I used to, I really did. Seasons 1 and 2, I was like, “Why can’t I?” I even asked Ryan [Condal, the showrunner] if there could be a scene where I was sitting behind my wife on her dragon, just so I could have that effect of riding through. But having done Episode 1, having done the Battle of the Gullet, being on the ship, I’m like, “This is better. I’m cool with the ship.”
In the premiere, the incestuous kiss between mother and son, Alicent and Aemond, really blew up on social media. What’s your take on it?
[Laughs] Well, I found it shocking. I mean, let’s face it, this is a family or a world in which brothers marry sisters, and uncles marry nieces, so I guess that’s not that big a surprise. The joy of it for me is just the way Olivia plays it. I think it’s so beautiful the way she’s just like, “OK, what’s happening here? Not sure.” I think it’s beautiful. I guess it’s par for the course with this particular set of people that a son might do that to his mother. It’s, you know, weird. We’ve had people fetishizing feet in this show, and then, like I said, we’ve got brothers marrying and having children with their sisters.
Last week, we lost Prince Jace, played by Harry Collett. What is it like when a cast member you’ve known for years suddenly leaves the show?
It’s horrible. You try to be like, “Well, this is just acting,” and get on with it. But we get to know each other so well that it is weird. It’s such a strange thing, and I experienced it firsthand more with the death of my wife, with Eve, because she and I were so close. But yeah, it is weird to think that Harry won’t be around, because Harry is such a lovely guy, and everyone loves him. But then, it is Westeros. It could happen to any of us at any time.
You mentioned losing Corlys’ wife, Rhaenys, last year. He’s still in the grieving process. Do you hope eventually he will find a new love?
No one’s asked me that before. Do you know what? Whether or not he finds a new love, I’d like him to be happy, whatever that is. That’s not a discussion I’ve had with any of the creators, but I don’t know that he would be happy with anybody, because she was the love of his life. She was the one. The only time you see Corlys smiling a lot or relaxed was in her presence, when it was just the two of them. I don’t know that he would be convinced he could find that again in somebody else. I’d be intrigued to see if that happened. I don’t hold that much hope for that in this world, but you never know.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
