House Of The Dragon’s Matt Smith Teases Daemon’s Season 2 Journey

There’s a civil war between the Targaryens in House of the Dragon Season 2. But as seen in the trailers for the returning Game of Thrones prequel series, there’s dissension among the Blacks as well. Matt Smith’s Daemon Targaryen is not seeing eye-to-eye with his wife, Queen Rhaenyra Targaryen (Emma D’Arcy). And that loss of trust between them may have severe consequences for Daemon according to Smith.

“In his perverse way–and it is deeply perverse–Daemon thinks he’s doing the right thing,” explained Smith during an interview with Variety. “And sometimes he’s just doing it because he likes that feeling of being the black sheep… We start to see the mask slip. Life becomes more difficult, and he gets soft around the edges. He starts to unravel.”

“We definitely meet Daemon at a point of crisis in this situation, and in many ways, it’s a different version of him,” continued Smith. “It’s one that’s much weaker.”

The feature revealed that Daemon will be spending a lot of time this season at Harrenhal, the castle that was famously scarred by fire when seen in the original series. Because of that, Smith and D’Arcy won’t have that many scenes together in Season 2, which is something that both of them missed.

“It was difficult to do it without [D’Arcy] because I love them–a person of real depth and sardonic humor and fierce intellect,” said Smith.

“[Smith] has incredibly high standards, so you at least have a chance of the work being satisfying,” added D’Arcy with a laugh. “I have petitioned for more [screen time with him] next season.”

House of the Dragon Season 2 will premiere on HBO and Max on June 16.