The stars from House of The Dragon, a prequel to the most popular television series to date, ‘Game of Thrones’, shared their experiences working on set. The show which is shot nearly 200 years before the events in ‘Game of Thrones’ is based on the story of the decline of House Targaryen and of the war of succession for the Iron Throne.
The first season premiered on August 21, 2022, and was watched by over 10 million viewers on various OTT platforms on the first day. The show became extremely popular and went on to win the Golden Globe Award for Best Television Series.
In an interview, Matt Smith, Paddy Considine, Emma D’Arcy, and Olivia Cooke who play the lead roles in the show, told Deadline more about how it was to follow up after the biggest TV show in History.
“It’s like finding yourself in someone else’s life,” recalls D’Arcy, who plays Queen Rhaenyra Targaryen in the show. “It’s quite wild having never done that before, and certainly not on that scale, obviously, with one of the biggest shows in the world. And I am quite camera shy, which is obviously a disaster.”
When talking about his character King Viserys, Paddy Considine said “I was sort of shocked in the first episode or so when people commented that they hated him, I didn’t understand that. Why would you hate him? I don’t think that fans were used to a character like that in that world, a king who wasn’t corrupted by power or entitlement.”
Matt Smith who plays the brother of King Viserys in the show, says that he loved playing the role of Dameon.
“I think Daemon’s got his own sense of morality, so to him, he feels like he’s always doing the right thing,” says Smith. “I think his love for his brother is true. It’s just slightly ill-conceived at times. And when you think he’s doing the right thing, actually, he’s not. And when he thinks he’s doing the wrong thing, he’s not.”
Ryan Condal, creator of the show revealed that a whole lot more will be happening in season 2.
“I’m excited to pick up where we left off,” Condal said “The excitement now is that we get to fall into the more traditional rhythms of storytelling and see where that story is going to go. We’ve always talked about this particular tale, and George has talked about it too, about this being a Shakespearean or Greek tragedy.”
Recap of Season 1 of House of The Dragon
*Spoilers for House of The Dragon ahead*
In the final episode, Rhaenyra learns of her father Viserys’ death and Aegon being crowned the new king. Amidst this, she delivers a stillborn child. Dameon and Rhaenyra have a dispute over whether to go to war or not. Lucerys is sent by Rhaenyra to King’s Landing but is killed on the way by Aemond and his dragon and this may start the war called ‘Dance of Dragons’.
With the prophecy of there being a male heir who shall bring salvation, it will be interesting to see how Season 2 will unfold.
