Meet the new Jon Snow

Following in Kit Harrington’s footsteps is British newcomer Fabien Frankel, steeling himself for the role of a royal in Game Of Thrones prequel, House Of The Dragon.

When Kit Harington and Emilia Clarke first starred as Jon Snow and Daenerys Targaryen on Game Of Thrones, they had no idea their careers would skyrocket in a stream of dragon fire. Now, British newcomer Fabien Frankel is steeling (Valyrian steeling?) himself for similarly good prospects when he dons the armour of Dornish knight Ser Criston Cole in the new prequel House Of The Dragon, although he admits to The Binge Guide that when he was cast, “I was completely baffled and very, very surprised.”

While the events of House Of The Dragon, the highly-anticipated spin-off of Game Of Thrones, take place 200 years before Tyrion Lannister would drink and know things (and Jon Snow would know nothing), Fabien Frankel is well aware of what fans may find instantly familiar (the white-blond hair of the members of House Targaryen) and what they may not (his character, the dark-maned knight called Ser Criston Cole).

As he sits down with The Binge Guide in Los Angeles ahead of the prequel’s premiere, Frankel explains that Cole is from Dorne, that sun-kissed, southernmost part of Westeros in author George RR Martin’s fantasy novels.

“The Dornish are looked upon in a certain way in this world, muchlike the Irish were in England in the ’40s or ’50s,” the 28-year-old says.

“So I think that was kind of, from a psychological standpoint, the way I saw it. [Cole is] isolated, removed, not from a noble house, so I think it felt very much like a solitary character. He doesn’t belong, I don’t think, in this world.”

But Frankel now certainly does. Prior to this role, the British actor’s most notable part was the supporting character Dominique Renelleau in the hit 2021 Netflix series The Serpent.

Now he will square off against established peers such as Matt Smith and Paddy Considine as a principal cast member.

“I felt in my case it was a big surprise for me because it didn’t happen overnight in the same way that I think it happened for some people,” Frankel explains of auditioning for House Of The Dragon.

“I think it was quite a fast process for some people and a very long process for others. In my case, there were five months that passed between when I first auditioned and when I ended up getting the role, so mainly I was just completely baffled and very, very surprised.

“I thought they had made a mistake.”

Fabien Frankel poses on the red carpet at the House Of The Dragon premiere in London last week. Picture: Holly Adams/AFP

Adding to the nerves was the fact that his first scenes with Doctor Who and The Crown veteran Smith, who plays Cole’s chief rival, Prince Daemon Targaryen, involved beating him up.

“We had learnt the fight separately and then we got put together and I hadn’t known Matt very well,” Frankel explains.

“A minute in, my sword hit his shield, and his sword hit my shield and [then] hit him back in the face. He was cut and bleeding. I was absolutely mortified.

“I was waiting for HBO to come down and say, ‘That is it, mate, you’ve killed Matt Smith.’”

Perhaps it’s better to be a lover, not a fighter; Frankel has been tipped as House Of The Dragon’s answer to Jon Snow, the central character in Game Of Thrones that made Kit Harington a swoon-worthy star.

It doesn’t hurt that main protagonists Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen (Emma D’Arcy) and Alicent Hightower (Olivia Cooke) have taken “a shining to him”, Frankel teases before adding, “I can’t say anything else.”

What Frankel can reveal is that, for a series with a plot that could seem dense, the episodes will be very direct.

“We said that from the get-go, it feels very theatrical,” he explains.

“It’s written a lot like a play at times because, as opposed to Game Of Thrones where everyone started in a different place and you had all these different families and all these different characters living on other sides of the world to each other, our show starts kind of small. It’s local.”

Figuring out the show is one thing, but is Frankel ready to handle all the attention that may come from being a part of this franchise?

“It goes without saying that it was hard to miss the Game Of Thrones effect if you were around the past 10 years,” he says.

“It’s a great privilege to join a TV dynasty that is such a massive thing. So, yeah, we felt very lucky. And we hope we do justice to what the Game Of Thrones team accomplished.”

Fabien Frankel stars on the cover of this Sunday’s issue of The Binge Guide. Picture: HBO

House Of The Dragon will stream on Binge and Foxtel in 4K at the same time as the US, from 11am tomorrow. And you can catch up on Game Of Thrones on either platform.

Originally published as Meet the new Jon Snow