‘House of the Dragon’s’ Fabien Frankel teases Sunday’s series premiere

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The dragons are coming! HBO’s Game of Thrones prequel House of the Dragon, the highly anticipated spinoff of one of the most successful shows ever on TV, premieres Sunday night.

Fabien Frankel stars as the knight Ser Criston Cole, and he tells ABC Audio that while the new series is “still in the same world” as Game of Thrones, including “the decadence and beauty of the sets and the level of intricacy that goes into making the costumes…it still feel like its own show.”

The dragons — 17 of them — will also be there, and Frankel says working with the fire-breathers isn’t easy.

“It’s like a ball on a stick, and like a man holding the ball on the stick and he looks exhausted. His arms look like they’re going to give way at any moment,” he recalls. “And you have to sort of make this tennis ball look like it’s terrifying.”

And remember all those times you wanted to throw your remote at the TV because something crazy happened on Game of Thrones? Frankel says House of the Dragon will also have “that kind of constant feeling of surprise.”

“You kind of feel like you’re at the top of the rollercoaster and you have no idea when it’s going to go start going down,” he shares.

That craziness played out during rehearsals, when Frankel actually cut his co-star, Matt Smith, during a fight scene in the first episode, although Frankel thinks he’s getting a bad rap.

“His sword rebounded off my shield and hit him in the face…if you think about it from a…court of law…he’s to blame…I take no responsibility,” Frankel insists, adding, “He can’t stop talking about it and it’s getting me in some serious trouble.”

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