Nobody has it particularly easy on House of the Dragon. But even with a high bar for misery in place for a Game of Thrones spinoff, Lord Corlys Velaryon a.k.a. the Sea Snake had himself quite a hard time in the show’s third season.It all started in the premiere, in which Corlys led a fleet of his House’s ships against the Triarchy of Essos. In the process of “winning” that naval battle he lost his nephew and queen’s heir, saw his home of Driftmark (filled with priceless valuables from across the world, mind you) put to the torch, and was flung overboard into the unforgiving narrow sea.Having survived that whole ordeal, Corlys was rewarded with Queen Rhaenyra’s (Emma D’Arcy) refusal to honor his request to legitimize his bastards Alyn (Abubakar Salim) and Addam (Clinton Liberty), thus endangering the future of his House. He was then kidnapped by the odious Ormund Hightower (James Norton) and had one of his fingers rudely removed and mailed to Alyn as a grim proof of life.With all that in mind, the fiery events of House of the Dragon season 3’s finale are damn near a relief for Corlys and Steve Toussaint, the actor who portrays him. Yes, things go very poorly in Tumbleton but at least Corlys gets to mostly sit on the sidelines and take it all in. He doesn’t even lose any more fingers!We caught up with Toussaint to discuss Corlys’ season 3 arc, his thoughts on the finale, and what he hopes to see from animated Sea Snake prequel spinoff Nine Voyages. That conversation, lightly edited for length and clarity, follows.cnx.cmd.push(function() {cnx({playerId: "106e33c0-3911-473c-b599-b1426db57530",}).render("0270c398a82f44f49c23c16122516796");});Den of Geek: From a practical, performing perspective, what’s it like missing a finger? Steve Toussaint: [Laughs] Do you know what? I think I’ll have a better idea when we get to the next season. Because for this one, it was literally only a couple of scenes – one in the cell and then in the scene with Daemon and Gwayne with that brick [of a bandage] on my hand.It wasn’t much fun, I can tell you that much. I remember in season 1, Paddy Considine had to wear a green glove because Viserys lost some fingers. I used to think, ‘Oh, that’s terrible.’ And now I’m in the same boat. Why couldn’t they just take his ring? Why did they have to cut his finger off? One thing from this finale that I’m glad we got to see was a little bit of Corlys as a diplomat and statesman. When Gwayne presents his peace plan to Daemon, Corlys has some fairly shrewd alterations to it. Do you remember what it was like, playing that scene? What do you make of what Corlys brings to the table there. I like to show that side of him. One of the things that I’ve often said about Corlys is that he is good at politicking, he just doesn’t like it very much. I don’t think he thinks it’s very honorable. But what I liked about that was that I don’t think that he had planned to do that when first being dragged out there by Gwayne to see Daemon. I like that he listened to what Gwayne was saying and thought, ‘What this guy is saying is nonsense, but there is a kernel of truth in it. Let me take over.’ I did like that to show that other side of him: that he is a thinking man and that also is his reputation. The reason why he was chosen to be Hand is justified.If Daemon weren’t Daemon, I think that plan would have worked. Rhaenyra stays queen, Daeron gets to be Warden of the South, and everyone is happy. Yes, I think you’re absolutely right. But the minute that Corlys says ‘You have to decide what you want: whether you want Rhaenyra on the throne or a mountain of dead Hightowers,’ he knows the minute it comes out of his mouth, he’s like, ‘Oh, it’s Daemon.’ Of course Daemon wants the mountain of dead Hightowers! Corlys doesn’t really participate in the Battle of Tumbleton but here’s there. What was it like being on set for those sequences? Did all the fire from the dragon pyrotechnics make it hot?It was a hot day anyway. I didn’t get to see the whole of that battle where Ulf has turned. I get that bit where I look up and see the dragon coming and I run and hide. We were in this geographical bowl, this massive field, like a valley. It feels massive and large and epic. Our director Andrij [Parekh] would scream ‘There’s the dragon!’ and then you run and dive. But then, when we were getting ready to shoot the scene where I pull Daemon out of the battle, you see all of the corpses that they have strewn everywhere. It’s quite shocking. It’s great because it helps you. No acting required, basically. A lot of viewers genuinely believed that Corlys might be dead, not captured, after episode 6. Do you recall having a similar reaction reading that script? Did [showrunner] Ryan Condal pull you aside?Yeah, I did think that when I read it. First of all, reading the first episode and it ends with Corlys tumbling into the sea, you think, ‘Oh wow, is that how he goes?’ And then later on this thing again. But I think that’s the same as everybody else. You just thumb through [the scripts] and hope that you’re alive at the end.I had been assured that it was going to be a good season for me. That’s what Ryan had told me at the very beginning. And so when I read that, I was like, ‘This is his idea of a good season? That I die?’ But thankfully, I didn’t, and I’m waiting with bated breath like everybody else to see what is in store for Corlys next season. And, in fact, how far into next season he gets. This is your first full season working as Corlys without Eve Best as Rhaenys. What was that experience like – being the Sea Snake without his other half?I can’t say it was bad because everyone else is so lovely, but it was tough. Eve and I were such good friends, and we were thick as thieves. We were partners in crime and even when we weren’t shooting, we’d have wonderful conversations and we got on so well together. So it was very weird to not have her there. Having said that, it also informed some of the scenes because Corlys is still grieving. There are still unresolved issues for him. It was brought home again, of course, when we were promoting the show. Because normally it would be myself and Eve and now it was me and Abu [Salim], which was great too. But yeah, I did miss her.Is there anything in particular from Coryls’ remaining arc in Fire & Blood that you’re really looking forward to?I haven’t actually checked out Fire & Blood. I purposely chose not to read the books when I got this job because I thought, ‘I’m going to play the script as opposed to playing the book.’ But in terms of what I would like for him, I would like to see him continuing his relationship with his sons and also a deepening of the relationship with his granddaughters. I don’t know whether that’s going to happen, you know. It’s Westeros, we don’t get happy endings, but that would be nice.I often say that Corlys gave up being happy when Rhaenys died. When we look back over the scenes of the three series now, the only time that he was really sort of playful or smiling a lot was when he was in her presence. Of course, she’s no longer there. The rock is gone. I would love to see him… maybe not happy, I don’t think he’s going to be happy, but content that he’s done the best he can for his children. Do you recall your favorite moment from filming this season now that it’s in the books? I think it’s probably way back in episode 1. It’s the scene between Corlys and Alyn before the battle begins. Alyn is in Corlys’ cabin and Corlys basically apologizes for being a terrible father. I like that because it showed that he had evolved. He apologized. He doesn’t apologize to anybody except to his wife. He showed vulnerability. I think that still remains my favorite scene to play this season. Have you heard any more about the potential Nine Voyages spinoff? Is that something that you’d like to be involved with, even if it’s animated?Oh, I would love to be, but I’ve heard nothing. I think the last that I heard about it was at the launch of HBO Max in Germany. I had a chance to chat with George [R.R. Martin] there and all he could say was, I think his phrase was, ‘It’s in the works.’ So what that means, what stage that is, I have no idea. But yes, I would love to be involved. I like this character so it would be nice to be at his genesis. We’ll see.All eight episodes of House of the Dragon season 3 are available to stream on HBO Max now.The post House of the Dragon Season 3 Finale: Steve Toussaint On Corlys’ Shrewd Politicking appeared first on Den of Geek.