Wave a red flag, because the dating profiles of Daemon Targaryen (Matt Smith) and Criston Cole (Fabien Frankel) would be enough to make the cast of House of Dragon swipe left.
While attending the premiere of the HBO series on Monday, June 3, Us Weekly asked which of the aforementioned characters would have the worst dating profiles — and the cast had thoughts.
“If Daemon had incest on his profile, then that might be a bit of a flag,” Harry Collett, who plays Jacaerys Velaryon, shared, adding that Daemon and Criston are as “bad as each other.”
Bethany Antonia, a.k.a. Baela Targaryen, contended that Criston would have the most red flags. “Daemon is like a walking red flag, but he’s consistent,” she explained. “Whereas Criston is like on-off, on-off, on-off. It’s like flashing red and then it’s cold. I think he would play mind games.”
Criston was also on the mind of Jamie Kenna, who noted that the villainous character might slip by on his “handsome” looks. “He would seem very nice on the outside from the initial outset,” Kenna, who plays new character Ser Alfred Broome, noted. “Then you would start to realize something was off pretty quickly. So you’d be like, ‘OK, there’s a big red flag there already.’”
Daemon, for his part, might be on the market come season 2. While speaking at a recent press conference for the upcoming season, Smith, 41, and Emma D’Arcy (Rhaenyra Targaryen) shared that their characters are struggling with their relationship following the death of her son Lucerys (Elliot Grihault) and her father, Viserys (Paddy Considine).
“I don’t know if they can find solace in each other in the losses,” D’Arcy, 31, noted, per The A.V. Club. “I don’t feel like Daemon can share his experience of losing his brother, so there is a dislocation taking place.”
Smith agreed, noting that his character can be “a vortex of chaos” — cough, more red flags, cough. He added that the pair can’t “unburden themselves” from their pain.
“The way Viserys died was so horrendous, and they were next to him seeing him decompose. It’s uncomfortable for them both,” he said. “I believe there is a deep sense of love that is challenged and tested in season 2. He also feels unaccepted by her and reacts as Daemon reacts.”
House of the Dragon season 2 premieres on HBO and Max Sunday, June 16, at 9 p.m. ET.
With reporting by Andrew Nodell
