Matt Smith has recently been speaking about House of the Dragon, the Game of Thrones prequel which focuses on the Targaryen dynasty. Smith plays Daemon Targaryen, an ancestor of Daenerys. The HBO series will also star Olivia Cooke, Paddy Considine, Rhys Ifans, Emma D’Arcy, and Bill Paterson.
Following in the footsteps of the epic series which ran from 2011-2019 and garnered a huge fandom will not be easy. Every fantasy movie or TV show that has come out in the last decade has been compared to Game of Thrones and that’s without having any direct ties. Former Doctor Who star Smith hopes that House of the Dragon will eventually be able to evolve into its own thing, however.
Speaking to ScreenRant, Smith said; “It’s obviously a big challenge for all of us that have taken it on. There’s such a huge fandom that surrounds (Game of Thrones), and rightly. It left a footprint in many ways, and it will be hard to repeat that. Let’s hope (House of the Dragon) evolves into something different.”
The series takes place approximately 200 years before the events of Game of Thrones during the reign of King Viserys I Targaryen, ultimately leading to the Targaryen civil war known as the Dance of the Dragons. This war saw the big houses of Westeros, such as the Lannisters and Starks, pitted against each other, which subsequently led to the eventual end of the Targaryen’s rule over the Seven Kingdoms.
According to the official description for the show: “the prequel series finds the Targaryen dynasty at the absolute apex of its power, with more than 15 dragons under their yoke. Most empires – real and imagined – crumble from such heights. In the case of the Targaryens, their slow fall begins almost 193 years before the events of Game of Thrones, when King Viserys Targaryen (Paddy Considine) breaks with a century of tradition by naming his daughter Rhaenyra (Emma D’Arcy) heir to the Iron Throne. But when Viserys later fathers a son (presumably Smith’s character Daemon), the court is shocked when Rhaenyra retains her status as his heir, and seeds of division sow friction across the realm.”
While we wait for more news on House of the Dragon, including a release date, check out our guides to the best fantasy movies.