Daemon & Corlys’ House Of The Dragon Season 4 Story After Battle Of Tumbleton Teased By Star

EXCLUSIVE: Things are only going to get bloodier in the final season of House of the Dragon, but one of the stars sheds light on where a shared storyline could go.

Lord Corlys Velaryon (Steve Toussaint), Hand to Queen Rhaenyra Targaryen (Emma D’Arcy), faced a reckoning concerning the legacy of his house this season as his relationships with the queen and her consort were strained. Though Rhaenyra refuses to properly legitimize them, Corlys publicly acknowledges Alyn (Abubakar Salim) and Addam (Clinton Liberty) of Hull as his sons, naming Alyn his heir. At the same time, he and Daemon (Matt Smith) are at the center of multiple major battles.

In House of the Dragon season 3’s ending, Corlys, having been taken captive, is returned to the Blacks in an attempt to sue for peace, which Daemon rejects and claims Corlys as his own prisoner. Corlys disagrees with Daemon in this case, arguing they should resolve things by allowing Daeron Targaryen (Benjamin Evan Ainsworth) to rule Oldtown. But when several things go wrong during the Battle of Tumbleton, Corlys pulls Daemon out, telling him it’s over.

In an interview with ScreenRant‘s Liam Crowley, Steve Toussaint addressed how, in the final minutes of the season, Corlys is “realigned with Damon.” When asked, “Where […] they’re at mentally as they head into season four after the big battle?” Toussaint described how Corlys has always respected Daemon and Rhaenyra, that he believes Corlys saved Daemon at Tumbleton, and that the Hand’s priorities are now diverting from the queen’s.

Rhaenyra and Daemon in season 3 of House of the Dragon

Check out the actor’s full comments below:

I think that there is, and has always been, a sort of wary respect between the two of them. I think for Corlys, he sees Daemon as he’s clearly a formidable warrior and sometimes a decent tactician, or if not a little bit reckless. And I don’t think that that’s changed. I’m as interested as everybody else to see how they are tomorrow. Do you know what I mean? Once they get back and they decide what they’re going to do next. Between Daemon, Corlys, and Rhaenyra, that’s an interesting triumvirate considering what they have been through, considering where they have shifted to. The final scene of the finale shows us that I think that Rhaenyra is becoming a bit more hardened, and whereas Corlys is, at this point, just tired of war. I think he sees it as futile. So yeah, it’d be interesting to see that. But I think that mutual respect is still there because I believe that, certainly in that scene with Daemon when he dragged him out of Tumbleton, I believe that he saves Daemon from himself. I think Daemon is looking to die in that scene. I think he’s looking just to be cut down in battle. I’m just surmising this. I haven’t had a discussion with either Ryan [Condal] or Matt about it. That’s just how I see it. Way back from episode two of season one, when Corlys persuades Daemon to fight the battle with him, I think there’s always been a mutual respect, if not even though it seems with the wariness.

Notably, Corlys also suggests that his granddaughter (and Daemon’s daughter) Rhaena (Phoebe Campbell) marry Daeron as part of the treaty proposed by Gwayne Hightower (Freddie Fox). According to Toussaint, Corlys did actually believe this could work, but it clashed with the dark truth about Daemon’s desire for conquest and vengeance. Read Toussaint’s additional comments below:

I think in the moment when he’s speaking, I think he does. I was trying to imagine what he was thinking as he is being led from the prison cell to Daemon’s camp. I don’t think he knows exactly what Gwayne is going to say. But as Gwayne starts talking about it, he starts thinking, “Oh, actually, that does make sense. Some of it.” There’s a point where he tells him to shut up, but I think the minute he then says, at the end of that speech, he says something like, “What you then have to decide is what you want, whether it’s the hope of you on the throne or you want a mountain of dead Hightowers.” And I think even before he finishes saying it, he knows where Daemon’s going to come down. He just wants death and destruction. I think there is a sense of sadness, disappointment, despair with Daemon. There are some aspects of Daemon that we’ve seen over the season where he has grown up, but Daemon is Daemon and Daemon’s got to Daemon basically. And he doesn’t disappoint in that respect.

Coming up during this interview is how Corlys and Daemon’s storylines have long been entwined, though the War for the Stepstones at the very beginning of the series may now be a distant memory for many viewers. When Daemon’s brother, King Viserys (Paddy Considine), chooses to ignore the threat of the Crabfeeder in the first two episodes, Corlys and Daemon go to war without his blessing.

At this time, Corlys strikingly identifies with Daemon as a fellow “second son,” not literally but in the sense that they have had to fight for their own renown. Nearly three seasons later, though Corlys’ ambitions no longer match Daemon’s, he still believes he can sway the prince consort. Check out Toussaint’s response to ScreenRant‘s question “Do you think that Corlys believes he can get through to Daemon?” below:

Yes. I think he probably does. I think he probably thinks in the right setting, he could sit him down and lay it out for him, and I think he would see it. I feel that where Corlys is at the moment, he thinks this is the only common sense thing to do, which is we can avoid unnecessary bloodshed. And so I think he will try again to reason with him, but maybe in the presence of Rhaenyra. I think maybe he may feel like she is the voice that Daemon will listen to more above all else. I would imagine that’s probably what he’s thinking.

After the chaos of Tumbleton and the deaths of multiple major characters, Rhaenyra, Corlys, and Daemon will certainly have to meet and regroup in House of the Dragon season 4. Rhaenyra is seen in the finale becoming more tyrannical as she consolidates her power and frames herself as the chosen savior of the realm, while the conflict between Corlys’ sons will also need to be addressed.

While Daemon truly dedicated himself to supporting Rhaenyra’s claim this season, his arc still took some interesting turns as he tried to convince her to extend her empire and lied to her to protect Rhaena. Time will tell what will what may have simply been forgotten by Westerosi history. The fourth installment is confirmed to be the final season in the Game of Thrones spinoff series, which we can likely expect to see sometime in 2028.

All episodes of House of the Dragon, including the season 3 finale, are available to stream on HBO Max.