Fabien Frankel is prone to uncontrollable fits of laughter. It would happen at school (“I was really naughty”), during his time at Lamda (“We had to act like butter in a pan…”) and on the set of his new show, HBO’s long-awaited Game of Thrones prequel, House of the Dragon. “Rhys Ifans is the most electric person to have around,” he says of one of his co-stars. “In scenes where you’re faced with a dragon, he makes you giggle. I’m like, ‘Please don’t look at me.’”
Vogue – 9 August 2022
Set 200 years before Daenerys Targaryen torched King’s Landing, the 10-part series charts the history of her family, from their conquest of the Seven Kingdoms to a bitter civil war in which dragons fought dragons. Frankel plays Criston Cole, a dashing knight who rises to become a kingmaker. “He’s not what you think he’s going to be,” the 28-year- old says. “Over the course of the series, he changes a great deal.”
Having made his cinematic debut (coincidentally opposite Emilia Clarke, the Mother of Dragons herself ) in Last Christmas, Frankel has also starred in Charing Cross Theatre’s The Knowledge and the BBC’s The Serpent, in which he played a French backpacker held captive.