House Of The Dragon's Steve Toussaint Breaks Down Corlys' Post-Finale Feelings About Rhaenyra & Co.: 'I Don't Think He Wants Anything More To Do With These People'

This post contains spoilers for the Season 3 finale of "House of the Dragon." Proceed accordingly.

Corlys Velaryon, Lord of the Tides and master of Driftmark, managed to make it through "House of the Dragon" Season 3 mostly intact. (RIP that ring finger.) But after the events of the season — and particularly Sunday's  finale — series star Steve Toussaint tells TVLine, the Sea Snake might have a tough time mustering up the effort to be a fully locked-in member of #TeamBlack.

In the season-ending episode, Gwayne and Corlys worked together in a clandestine, last-minute, and ultimately unsuccessful parley with Daemon to try to stave off the Battle of Tumbleton. In the aftermath of the botched conflict, Corlys was the person who found a dazed Daemon and hauled him back toward King's Landing.

"I don't think he wants anything more to do with these people and their petty wars," Toussaint says. "But now, of course, his children are embroiled in it."

And therein lies the dragon-sized rub that may well shape the trajectory of Toussaint's character in the HBO series' upcoming fourth and final season: How much patience will Velaryon have with the regime that doesn't seem to care much about him or his family outside of their use as weapons or strategists? Read on for what Toussaint has to say on the matter.

TVLINE | Tell me if I'm wrong here, but I feel like Corlys is one of the few people that came away from this season looking better than he did when he started. Thoughts on that?
STEVE TOUSSAINT | Oh, that's interesting. Yeah, I can see why that would be. I can see why you would think that, because one of the things about Corlys, what I liked about this season, is that he seems to have evolved. At the beginning, he apologizes to his son. He's trying to make amends there, in honor of his deceased wife. And then by the time we get to Tumbleton, he's just tired of war and the futility of it all. I like that he's trying. So that scene with Gwayne and Daemon where he tries to posit a compromise, I think all of that indicates where he's at, and that he's trying to just avoid shedding of innocent blood.

TVLINE | It struck me, as Rhaenyra is devolving, and Daemon is just bloodthirsty, here comes Corlys as this voice of reason the middle of all of it, someone who has been in many battles and who is — like you said — tired of all of the bad things that can come with it.
Exactly. I think that's interesting, because I hadn't thought of the word "devolving," but yeah, you're right. The Rhaenyra that Corlys will encounter, when he goes back to King's Landing is not the same one that he left. When you look at that last scene of the whole episode, of the whole season, when she closes the shutters on her dead sister, there is something in Emma [D'Arcy's] eyes that just makes you go, "Oh, this person is becoming harder." She may think that's what you need to rule. As you said, Daemon is Daemon. But yeah, for Corlys, he's still on a journey.

TVLINE | Tell me what you're thinking about how he's regarding the Targaryens now, given that Rhaenyra wouldn't legitimize his sons, and no one from King's Landing was coming to save him from Ormund.
It's interesting, I hadn't thought of this at all until you just asked that question. I think some of what Ormund met him with at the dinner table in the previous episode he may be agreeing with. It was basically the idea that... everyone else is a casualty of their aims. That's where he's at, actually. I think he looks at his life, and the sacrifices that he's made for little or no gain, and he just thinks that's just par for the course. But combining that with the fact that he still believes that Rhaenyra does have a legitimate claim to the throne, that what the Greens have done is still tantamount to treason, and there should be a reckoning for that... I don't think he wants anything more to do with these people and their petty wars. But now, of course, his children are embroiled in it.

TVLINE | Let's talk about them for a minute. It didn't escape me that Alyn refers to himself as "Lord of the Tides" during this episode. How do you think that the current Lord of the Tides might feel about that if he finds out?
You know what? I think he wouldn't mind, because I think that's kind of what he wants. He wants Alyn to be his heir. And so if Alyn is now recognizing that, I think Corlys is a pragmatic man, and he would sit there and weigh up what Alyn had to take into account. There's one man, be it his father, who is a prisoner. We don't know whether he's alive or dead. Is it worth risking all of these people,and the possible security of King's Landing, to get him out? I think he might very well come down on the same point that Alyn does.

TVLINE | And do you think he'd approve of the Alyn/Baela situation?
On the one hand, you'd think, "Well, no." But then, with our Westerosi sensibilities, I guess he probably would, because that's what people do in this world. And much as I would like him to be like, "What the hell are you doing?? It's your niece!," I can't forget that in Season 1, he was trying to marry off his 12-year-old daughter to 40-something-year-old King Varys.

TVLINE | That is a good point.
So I guess he'd probably be like, "OK, if it makes you happen, then yeah, I guess." [Laughs]

TVLINE | Before I let you go, are you in contact with Eve Best at all? Do Mom Dragon and Dad Dragon ever chat?
[Laughs] I literally sent her birthday greetings just a few days ago. She responded asking me how things were going. Funny enough, I'm in the process of trying to write a project for her to be the lead in. So yeah, so we're still in touch — not, not as regularly, but yes, we still talk.