Matt Smith: Riding a dragon is "like a big sort of bucking bronco"

Matt Smith plays Daemon Targaryen on House of the Dragon, HBO's Game of Thrones prequel series. On that show, he charges into battles, participates in extremely inappropriate romances, and of course, rides dragons. Specifically, Daemon rides Caraxes, a red dragon bred for war with a long red noodle neck.

"How does it feel when watching yourself riding a dragon?" Smith asked himself during an appearance at LA Comic Con in December. "I think the answer is in the question, my friend… it’s great!"

Obviously the finished product is great, although the process of filming what will eventually become a spectacular dragon scene is a good deal less glamorous. "It's like a big sort of bucking bronco," Smith said of riding the dragon apparatus behind the scenes, according to PopVerse. "It's quite a bit of fun actually, but you're up there for like 12 hours and by the end you're like 'my god.' There's a guy with us with controls and stuff and they fire wind... then you have to do your best sort of 'I'm riding a dragon’ acting."

That jives with what we know about how HBO filmed dragon-riding scenes on both Game of Thrones and now on House of the Dragon. Emilia Clarke logged her share of hours on the dragon bronco back in the day.

The difference is that, back then, Clarke was more or less the only person who had to get on one of those things. In House of the Dragon, every other character has a flying, fire-breathing beast to call their own. The set must be lousy with bucking bronco machines.

We'll see a lot of these characters ride their dragons into battle against each other in the second season of House of the Dragon, due out on HBO and Max sometime this summer.

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