HotD Actor Choice Words About Kissing Matt Smith Stir "Queerbaiting" Drama
Either we might have a new pairing in House of the Dragon, or someone just really likes Matt Smith.
At a Comic Con in Stockholm, Fabien Frankel, who portrays Ser Criston Cole in House of the Dragon, appeared to have shared with fans that he was actually jealous of Milly Alcock for a quite unexpected reason.
It turns out Frankel felt jealous because Milly got to kiss Matt Smith ( Daemon Targaryen) in the first season, and he didn't.
Naturally, the remark immediately caused waves in the House of the Dragon fandom, with some people welcoming Frankel into the group of Daemon fans, and others going as far as to suggest that the actor might have just exercised in queerbaiting.
Queerbaiting is when a queer relationship is implied but not being shown explicitly on screen — most often in order to lure LGBTQ+ audience into following something but with no intention to actually fulfill their expectations.
It's not really clear whether such thing as queerbaiting is applicable to real life, but some fans argued that Frankel was okay for saying this because he never actually stated his sexuality and therefore might just be hinting that he likes guys.
"No queerbaiting here but I do find it hypocritical sometimes that the same people who criticize actors for queerbaiting turn around and preach that they encourage freedom of exploring sexuality/gender identity & that we don't have to put labels on everything," Twitter user quinncyrusxxx noted.
Other people suggested that Frankel might be dropping ambiguous hints in order to draw attention away from rumors that he and Milly Alcock are dating. The rumors have started in the wake of the House of the Dragon popularity, but neither of the two actors have confirmed their relationship.
There is a second season of House of the Dragon coming, and Frankel (unlike Alcock who bowed out of the Rhaenyra role in the middle of the season to make way for her older counterpart, Emma D'Arcy) is still a part of the cast. He might make an appearance and try his chances with Daemon again... even though the two are now on the different sides of the rivaling teams in a Targaryen civil war.