SPOILER ALERT: This article contains spoilers for “House of the Dragon” Season 3, Episode 3, now streaming on HBO Max.

Queen Rhaenyra Targaryen received a slap in the face from the queen, Corlys Velaryon, on tonight’s episode of “House of the Dragon,” when the Sea Serpent publicly called Rhaenyra’s children (her grandchildren) “bastards” in the halls of her recently reclaimed Red Keep in King’s Landing.

Until now, Corlys (Steve Toussaint) has never hesitated to recognize Rhaenyra’s (Emma D’Arcy) three eldest children, the “children” of her presumed dead son, Laenor Velaryon (John Macmillan), as his biological family, despite the lack of resemblance and the many credible rumors about Rhaenyra’s long affair with Ser Harwin Strong (Ryan Corr). But when Rhaenyra rejected his request to recognize her own bastards, Addam (Clinton Liberty) and Alyn (Abubakar Salim), as legitimate Velaryons during Season 3, Episode 3, he exploded.

“It’s one of the things you do without thinking,” Toussaint says. Variety. “Looking at the scene in the script, I remember thinking, ‘Okay, well, the last time someone said that to him, it was his brother, and he died in a matter of seconds.’ So this is a very dangerous thing to do, but I feel like he’s completely exhausted. At that point, he doesn’t care, and that’s why, again, he raises his voice. It’s not like he’s just saying, ‘I know what’s going on.’ He shouted it out. He doesn’t care. And it’s very defiant: I dare you to prove me wrong, because the world he suspects it anyway and I’ve kept a secret. It’s not careless abandonment, that’s not exactly what it is. I think it’s like, do your worst I don’t care.

Whether the move was justified or not, Corlys certainly risked his life and position by doing so, and now viewers are left wondering what his fate will be when Rhaenyra decides how to respond to the accusation made against the now-deceased Jacaerys (Harry Collett) and Lucerys (Elliot Grihault), and Rhaenyra’s remaining heir, Joffrey (Oscar Eskinazi).

Toussaint says this situation reminded him of a deleted scene from the first season of “House of the Dragon,” when Corlys is injured in a battle toward the end of the season. The episode’s director, Geeta Patel, told Toussaint that they were going to film a scene showing Corlys diving into the depths of the ocean with blood coming out of his throat. In that scene, Corlys would have tried to reach the surface and then, realizing he can’t with all his armor on, accepts his fate and prepares to die at sea. Then a hand would have reached out and pulled him to safety.

“That was always with me during these last years, because it meant to me that he was not afraid of dying and that death was always close to him, but that he always had reasons to live, his children, his wife, etc.,” says Toussaint. “But at this stage, those people don’t exist anymore. The only thing he has, the only thing that keeps him going is that I need to set up these two guys. So when he says to her, ‘So-and-so is a bastard,’ and if she had said, ‘Okay, let’s call the guards and we’re going to cut his head off, he would have said, ‘Well, okay, this is as good a path forward as any.’ So I think it’s almost liberating to live with that idea of “I don’t really fear death, because I’ve done everything in this world, I’ve done everything. So if my life ends today, that’s okay. I guess your only concern, and it has been since season 1, is making sure the Velaryon line continues.”

See below for more information on VarietyInterview with Toussaint about episode 3 of season 3 of “House of the Dragon”.

Why does Corlys finally ask Rhaenyra to legitimize Alyn and Addam as her children? Why now?

If there is an event that is the catalyst, I would have to say it goes back to that moment where Rhaenys says: I know who they are. Because what she’s saying is that I know who he is, and she’s basically saying words like, “It’s not their fault you were a shitty dad and you need to own up to them.” And shortly after that confrontation, she is dead. So I feel like there’s an element where Corlys honors his dead wife, the only person he really loved, honors her and tries to do the right thing because she wanted that and she was smart, etc. That’s why later that season, when Alyn scolds him and says, “What do you think it was like for us when we were kids and you were in that big house?”, that’s why he takes that and doesn’t discuss it or banish it. That’s why he has that scene in Episode 1 of this season, where they’re in the cabin before the battle, and he, to Corlys’ surprise, says to Alyn, “I’m sorry for what I did,” which is very important to him. He would hand it back to Rhaenys saying, “You have to do right by those kids.”

What do you think pushed Corlys to the point where he would publicly call Jace, Luke and Joffrey bastards after years of defending his “grandsons” and showing them great love and even making Luke his heir?

I remember the night before we filmed that, I was trying to think like Corlys, and thinking about all those periods of time where he would walk down the court and say, “These are my grandkids,” and I knew there were people around, who would just say, “They’re not his fucking grandkids.” He knew it and said, “I dare you to say anything, I’m going to confront them.” I really think he really loved those kids.

But I think all that tormented him, those little things. I even remember a scene where Rainey says something like, “Come on, we know the truth, they’re not really,” and he’s like, “No, no.” So he feels like he’s gone to the mat for this girl, for Rhaenyra, and it’s a small gesture for him, considering what I’ve lost, for you to just say, “Yes, those are yours.” Because I still have to come to terms with the fact that yes, I fathered these children and abandoned them. I have yet to come to terms with that, so all I ask of you, in your wisdom, is simply: “Yes, they are Velaryons.” And then when it doesn’t, I think everything comes to a boiling point. You have counted the cost, looked for the benefits and there have been no benefits. It’s also like, I’m not doing this for me, I’m doing this for them to give them a chance, and you’re taking it away because you’re worried about how things look.

This interview has been edited and condensed.