Matt Smith: House of the Dragon is “really different” from Game of Thrones

The day draws ever closer for HBO’s Game of Thrones successor show House of the Dragon. No, we don’t know what that day is exactly, but the hints have been dropping lately, so we’re starting the count down.

Actor Matt Smith plays Daemon Targaryen, a prince of the Targaryen Dynasty who is as mercurial as he is deadly. Smith has been out promoting the movie Morbius, where he plays the villain Hunger. Naturally, House of the Dragon has come up.

House of the Dragon is “really different to the original series”

House of the Dragon has a lot to live up to; Game of Thrones was one of the most successful shows of all time and had an enormous impact on TV viewers across the globe. How can House of the Dragon follow it?

“I think it’s really different to the original series, to be honest with you,” Smith told ComicBook.com. “I mean it has to be. The original series was its own thing and it was, it was so brilliant and, and sort of left a mark in a way that it would be impossible to repeat. So, I don’t know. The truth is I haven’t seen any so it’s difficult for me. Essentially it’s in the same world, it has to take on a slightly different identity. But who knows? I have no idea.”

Based on George R.R. Martin’s fake history book Fire & Blood, House of the Dragon tells the story of the Dance of the Dragons, a Targaryen civil war that tore Westeros apart some 200 years before Game of Thrones. It’s kind of amazing that while we know so much about the Dance — you can read all about it in Fire & Blood — HBO has managed to keep many details about the show quiet.

Keeping the secrets has been a piece of cake for Smith, especially compared to what it was like when he was cast in Doctor Who back in 2009. “I think when I was making Doctor Who, that felt like — I was younger then as well — and there were so many episodic storylines that it built up to that you just could not reveal what was going on and it was. I remember feeling that one,” he recalled. “I got the part for that nearly six to seven months before it was announced so I had to keep it a secret for like seven months that I was going to be in it; people going like, ‘What are you gonna do next?’ I was like, ‘I don’t know,’ but I knew I was going to play the Doctor. So that was probably the most difficult one to keep.”

We just won’t count that slip-up about the House of the Dragon release month the other day.

House of the Dragon premieres sometime in 2022. Based on some recent statements from actors and their management, it’s looking like it may arrive in August.

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