When the first season of House of the Dragon aired a few years ago, every Game of Thrones fan breathed a sigh of relief, for a show of high calibre was continuing tales from their favourite continent. Within that, they found new favourite characters. And even as loyalties divided between the Greens and the Blacks over time, one character managed to win them all. To call Daemon Targaryen a fan favourite would tell a tale criminally bare. The writers and Matt Smith’s charm have made the rogue prince one of the highlights of the show.
Ahead of season 3, Hindustan Times sat down with the actor himself to talk about his character’s arc, his warmongering ways, and ‘allegations’ of aura farming he has faced for years now.
Matt Smith on Daemon’s warmongering ways
Daemon was established as a warrior par excellence in season 1. That is why many fans were disappointed when the character spent much of the second season cocooned in Harrenhall, as fans called it ‘moping around in a castle’. But in season 3, he is back on the battlefield, doing what he does best. “It feels liberating both as an actor and the character. I think it’s good for him to be back in the zone of warmongering. It’s good to have him back in the zone,” says Matt with a smile.
The show’s creators had justified Daemon’s arc in Harrenhell as his journey of self-discovery. But Matt believes that he will be back to his old ways soon. “Whatever enlightenment he may or may not have entertained, Daemon has a sort of umbilical connection towards violence, and if anything doesn’t sate that need, he can become grouchy and grumpy,” says the actor.
Is Daemon aura-farming? Matt has the answer
Ever since the battle in the Stepstones in season 1, Daemon has commanded the aura on the screen. In fact, some fans joke that the character aura farms, a slang term for intentionally looking cool. Ask Matt that, and he jokes, “Are there scenes where I am aura farming? Yes, right from page 1 to page 300.” But he has a justification for the theory. “What an interesting idea. But yes, if you are on a horse with a sword, invariably, you feel this could look cool,” he says.
The actor reveals that in one of the early cuts of the season 1 episode, Second of His Name, the makers had propped Daemon up as a superhero, and he argued that it needed to be more visceral. “When I watched the first cut of episode 3 in season 1, they’d sort of turned him into a superhero. And I said, no! The point is the violence has to be mad and ugly, strange and vindictive. That’s the alley we have to take,” he tells us.
House of the Dragon season 3 premieres on June 21 on HBO and HBO Max worldwide. In India, the show will stream on JioHotstar. The eight-episode season 3 will conclude on August 9.