Daemon Targaryen (Matt Smith) shoots the messenger in House of the Dragon

Filming is wrapping up at Cornwall for House of the Dragon, HBO’s upcoming Game of Thrones prequel series, but we still have a few more scenes from the set to go over.

The most interesting one involves Matt Smith’s character Daemon Targaryen, the hot-tempered younger brother of King Viserys I Targaryen (Paddy Considine). We’ve seen quite a bit of him during this stretch of filming, which makes sense; he’s a crucial player in the Dance of the Dragons, the Targaryen civil war at the center of the show.

He’s also kind of a huge a**hole, as you can see in this video posted by the House of The Dragon Brasil Twitter page. Daemon is decked out in Targaryen regalia at some kind of outdoor war council with Corlys Velaryon (Steve Toussaint) when someone walks up to him and hands him a message. Daemon reads it, seems to give it back to the messenger…and then clobbers the poor guy upside the head and storms away while he writhes on the ground.

I’d make a “don’t shoot the messenger” joke but it’s too easy. Daemon is a jackass here, which is very much in keeping with how George R.R. Martin describes him in Fire & Blood, so good job.

As for what bad news he’s getting, it could involve the War of the Stepstones, a conflict where he and Corlys try to conquer a string of islands claimed by the Free Cities of Myr, Lys and Tyrosh. It might be the news that his brother the king is marrying Alicent Hightower (Olivia Cooke), who’s powerful father Otto Hightower (Rhys Ifans) has it out for Daemon. It might involve his niece Rhaenyra Targaryen (Emma D’Arcy), with whom Daemon has a…special relationship, you’ll see; it’s gross in the grand Game of Thrones tradition.

House of the Dragon moves to Spain

So now that filming at Cornwall is done, what’s next for House of the Dragon? According to Ideal (via the ever-watchful Los Siete Reinos), the show will shoot in the castle of La Calahorra in the province of Granada, Spain for just over a week starting on October 1.

The castle certainly looks Game of Thrones-y. Maybe it’s standing in for King’s Landing? Oldtown? Dragonstone? Somewhere in the Free Cities on Essos? There are a lotta possibilities.

From there the production is on to the Spanish city of Cáceres, where it will film from October 11-21. Again, we don’t know what they’re filming, but we’ll keep our ears to the ground. According to Hoy, extras have already been called in for costume fittings, and LSR reports that some might have lines of English dialogue.

It’s all happening, folks. House of the Dragon premieres on HBO and HBO Max sometime in 2022.

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