Matt Smith rides “the angriest…dragon” in Game of Thrones prequel

Former Doctor Who star Matt Smith appeared on the Happy Sad Confused podcast the other day and spilled some hot tea about House of the Dragon, HBO’s upcoming Game of Thrones prequel show. Smith is playing Daemon Targaryen, a violent, lustful character who loves making war and covets the Iron Throne occupied by his brother King Viserys I Targaryen (Paddy Considine). As Smith says on the podcast, it’s “an interesting and dark and disturbed part to play.”

That’s one of the reasons Smith was attracted to the show, although there are others. “And I thought, ‘oh, you know it’d be interesting to try on a blonde wig as well. All of that. And fly on some dragons and get involved in some sword fights.'” Check, check and check.

Speaking of dragons, there are lot of them in this show; nearly two dozen by our count, although not all of them have major roles. But Daemon’s dragon Caraxes is a big player, and just as hot-tempered as his rider. “Caraxes is pretty good, y’know? He’s big and red and angry,” Smith said. “He’s a really angry dragon. Mine’s the angriest of all the dragons. There is no angrier dragon than Caraxes. He’s a real moody bastard.”

Matt Smith: It’s “impossible” for House of the Dragon to succeed like Game of Thrones

Game of Thrones was the kind of show that comes around once in a generation, a uniting force that captivated people from all different walks of life. HBO is hoping for the best with this spinoff,  which is set nearly 200 years before the events of Game of Thrones, but it’ll be very hard for House of the Dragon to capture the audience’s collective imagination like the original did.

Or at least, that seems to be the tack Matt Smith is taking when thinking about the show’s pedigree. “It’s impossible for this show to ever really succeed in the way that Thrones did,” he said. “Thrones became a sort of cultural phenomenon for many people, and it’s never gonna quite scale those heights in the same way, cause that was its own unique thing. Whether people are ready to receive or not, who knows? You never know. But we make it in earnest and we try to deliver something that is an entertaining world, with dragons and sword fights.”

I think that’s a healthy way to look at it. We’ll see how much of a splash House of the Dragon makes when it premieres on HBO and HBO Max in 2022.

House of the Dragon could premiere later in 2022

Speaking of a premiere date, we don’t have an exact one, but it sounds like we may be waiting a while. “We’ve been doing it since March, and I finish in January,” Smith said. “It’s tough, it’s a long shoot.”

And keep in mind that just because Smith is done filming in January doesn’t mean the show doesn’t have more to shoot, although he’s playing an important character so I can buy that he’d be working to the very end. Still, there will be a lot of post-production on this show (did I mention all the dragons?), so I can imagine having to wait until decently late in the year to see the finished product.

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