Acting on a show like House of the Dragon is difficult, especially if you're Matt Smith and you're playing a character like Daemon Targaryen. There's the armor, there's the huge sets to navigate, there's acting opposite a dragon that isn't really there, there's trying to keep your character sympathetic even as they groom and marry their niece, etc.
But apparently, none of that holds a candle to getting into one of the show's famous white-blonde wigs, which pretty much all Targaryens must wear. "The wigs are hard," Smith said during a panel at New York Comic Con this past weekend, railing against the "wigs, the bald caps the pins" required to get Daemon's long flowing locks into place.
But it sounds like he may have found a solution. Smith has been working with Austin Butler on a movie called Caught Stealing, a crime drama where Smith plays a character with an incredibly distinctive hairstyle:
Matt Smith sports a mohawk alongside Austin Butler for filming their new film ‘CAUGHT STEALING’ in New York City. pic.twitter.com/OFffcFCZT6
— westerosies (@westerosies) October 2, 2024
Yep, that is Matt Smith on set in a mile-high orange-and-yellow mohawk. "I've been talking to the makeup people there, going, 'Is there a way around it?' And they're like, 'There is,'" he revealed. "I'm going back armed, man. I'll tell you."
So what's the solution? "Oh, I'm just gonna shave my head," Smith said. "I can't go through it again. I can't. It killed me. Sorry — these are champagne problems, aren't they?"
Shaving one's head would definitely help with the prep process of putting on a wig; you don't need to affix a bald cap if you're already bald. Even on this panel, it looks like Smith had already shaved most of his head, probably to help with his mohawk haircut for Caught Stealing. House of the Dragon showrunner Ryan Condal has said that shooting on season 3 will begin "earlyish 2025." Maybe Smith will just shear the whole thing off at this point.
I also can't help but wonder if Smith talked his new costar Austin Butler about this problem, since Butler recently played the stark bald Feyd-Rautha Harkonnen in Dune: Part Two. Butler didn't actually shave his head for that part, but maybe he was just annoyed with the bald cap as Smith was and shared his regrets.
We have release dates for neither House of the Dragon season 2 nor Caught Stealing at this time. For House of the Dragon, we'll probably be waiting until 2026. Watch this space...and the top of Matt Smith's head.
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h/t People