Steve Toussaint (‘The House of the Dragon’): “It is essential to portray war as it is. There are no winners”

The third season of ‘The House of the Dragon’spin-off and prequel to ‘Game of Thrones’, has begun its journey in HBO Maxwith the premiere of the first of its eight episodes. Based on book ‘Fire and Blood’, by George RR Martinthe series chronicles the destructive war between the Targaryens, who on the back of their devastating dragons fight for the Iron Throne and control of Westeros. Far from glorifying the conflict or presenting clear heroes and villains, The fiction emphasizes the terrible costs for both sides, something the actors deeply value.

“I think it is essential that the war be portrayed as it is“, declared Steve Toussaint in an interview with Europa Press. The actor, who in ‘The House of the Dragon’ plays Lord Corlys Velaryon, the legendary naval commander known as the Sea Serpent, adds that ““Someone very wise said that in war there are no winners, there is only war itself.”

“When we look back at certain conflicts we have experienced, I think I’m thinking maybe of the first Gulf War, there were images of pilots bombing towns as if it were a video game,” the interpreter reflects, pointing out that “we fail when we allow that to happen” and emphasizing that “someone dies” and “that has consequences.”

“I always say that when it comes to war, if we look at historyWhat usually happens is that a group of men, usually men, are in a room somewhere and they can’t agree on something.. So they decide to send other people’s children to prove their point of view,” says Toussaint, who remembers in particular how as a child he learned about the Crimean War.

The actor tells how they taught him that, despite having solved the problems, “they thought it had been a little disappointing” and “innocent people died because those men only wanted to fight“.

Taking this into account, the interpreter considers it “essential” that, when making a series about nations at war, young people receive the message that what they see “is not fun.” “The issue is the cost. It is always a huge cost“adds Phoebe Campbell, who in fiction plays Rhaena Targaryen and also considers it important that ‘The House of the Dragon’ does not establish winners. And, Even though a character may get what they thought they wanted, sometimes the price may have been too great.

THE INVOLVEMENT OF GEORGE RR MARTIN

Although it adapts the events narrated in ‘Fire and blood’the fiction has already deviated at some points from the original material, something that has bothered some fans and even the author himself, who has publicly criticized the direction the fiction has taken.

When asked if they had had the opportunity to speak with Martin about the journey of his characters, Campbell reveals that he has not even met him, while Toussaint claims to have spoken with him a couple of times, but not about that topic and that he does not believe that it could be as useful as the conversations he has had with the showrunner, Ryan Condal.

“As we have already said, they are two different things, there is the book as he imagined it and then there is the television series as we are making it“, explains the actor.

The interpreter reveals that he himself has recently written the script for a film that has already been shot and reflects on what he felt when experiencing the adaptation process. “The funny thing is that I’m talking to the producer and she tells me: ‘Yes, we may not start it where you started. Maybe we’ll start it with something else’. And part of me thinks: ‘I’ve racked my brain with this, what are you talking about?'” he says. “But in reality, what they are doing is creating a good movie“he adds.

Apart from Toussaint and Campbell, they are part of the cast of the third (and, by all accounts, penultimate) season of ‘The House of the Dragon’ Emma D’Arcy, Matt Smith, Olivia Cooke, Tom Glynn-Carney, Ewan Mitchell, Rhys Ifans, Fabien Frankel, Sonoya Mizuno, Harry Collett, Bethany Antonia, Phia Saban, Jefferson Hall, Matthew Needham and James Norton. Tom Bennett, Kieran Bew, Kurt Egyiawan, Freddie Fox, Clinton Liberty, Gayle Rankin, Abubakar Salim, Tom Cullen, Tommy Flanagan, Dan Fogler, Joplin Sibtain and Barry Sloane complete the cast.