It's one of the most highly anticipated shows, well, ever. Expectations are higher than a soaring dragon and hotter than a searing breath of fire. It's fair to say there's a lot riding on the success of the series. Something everyone involved is well aware of.
Here they reveal all
The Game Begins: Inside House of the Dragon
Matt Smith as Daemon Targaryen in The House of the Dragon, coming to Soho and Neon on Monday.
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The original series is a very sprawling narrative that covers many different houses and families across thousands of miles and country; this all begins in one house, the house of the dragon. It's one family under one roof and the problems and pressures it goes through as it tries to define who is going to succeed the king.
Was it tricky balancing the source material, George R.R. Martin's consultations and your own creative ideas for the direction of the show?
Miguel: The structure and events that take place exist within George's book Fire and Blood. What was quite nice is that, like the Titanic, you know it's gonna sink, the question is what happens on the way down? I don't think there were any restrictions placed on us in terms of how we did those things, as long as they existed within the framework of the book itself.
Ryan: The goal was to render a faithful adaptation of George's book and present something that fitted into the tonal landscape of the original series but also do something new and interesting and that had something specific to say about this world so that it wasn't just a sequel for sequel's sake or prequel for prequel's sake.
Underneath the fantasy and dragons this is a family drama, how did you put a new spin on that?
Miguel: It's always dangerous to start off and say, "We have to be new, we have to be fresh." What we have to do is tell a good story. What you hope is that in telling a good story people will find it interesting and engaging. But there's no guarantee of that. I think we're inexperienced and young enough that we're looking for a perspective that interests us. You have to keep yourself interested first, if you can it's likely that you might be able to keep others interested too.
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It's a mighty production, what was the biggest challenge you faced?
Ryan: Covid loomed over everything and made everything a challenge. But it was the sheer size and scope of the thing; filming in multiple countries, running two main units at once with a crew of almost 2500 people at full capacity in the workshops and on set. It's a behemoth. You can't really steer it when you're in it but you can influence at certain key pressure points and guide it as it goes along. It's trying not to get lost and see the whole forest while focusing on the tree in front of you. It's an incredibly complex production.
A lot of people were unsatisfied with how Game of Thrones ended. Can you satisfy those unhappy fans?
Miguel: It's important to differentiate this show from that show. We have felt the responsibility to make a good show but the important thing is to focus on what we're doing and not what has been because that's really not our problem.
Can we learn from past mistakes? Of course. But the truth is all stories come to an end. If you'd been living with a character for eight seasons, 11 years, you've watched these people grow up and come into your living room every week and play these characters. And then to lose them and them turning out to be something that you didn't want them to be. That's difficult, it's tough. But that's not our problem.
"Sex, gore and killings? There's a lot of that."
The actor: Paddy Considine
The character: King Viserys I Targaryen
The deal: The ruler of Westeros strives to rule with an even hand and ensure the safety of the family legacy. His unusual choice of successor kick-starts the action.
I understand you were one of the first actors to be cast?
I was the first! I started watching Game of Thrones during the lockdowns and was doing an indie film in Ireland when I got the call. I thought it was a nice synchronicity because I was really enjoying the show. It's nothing new that I watch a show about seven years after it's been a hit. I didn't watch it for years, I bought it on DVD and it stayed sealed on a shelf. I had friends telling me how amazing it was and I should watch it and that annoyed me so I begrudgingly didn't watch it. But when I did I was surprised by it. Particularly as the series went on. I got sucked in like everybody else.
That must have been great finding out you were the first actor cast?
I've been offered things in the past that have been big projects and it's all sounded very exciting and then I've got the script, looked at it and there's nothing there, or there are three scenes there and I'm going, 'Well, I'm not gonna sign my life away to stand in the background." I wasn't prepared to do that.
When the interest came for me to play Viserys, it all sounded great, I was excited about it but I was expecting to get the script and read it and go, "Oh, it's one of them, I'm standing in the background, he doesn't really do an awful lot." Then when I read it, I was like, "Oh! Okay. Who's turned this down?" That's always my first question. But nobody had. They came directly to me to play this part. I didn't have to audition for it, luckily, because I wouldn't have got the part. I can't audition, I'm rubbish at it.
In the show notes Viserys is described as a "good man", while asking the question if a good man can be a great king. What's your take?
He's got a lot of responsibilities, a lot of weight on his shoulders, he's carrying a massive secret that has implications for history. But because he wants to be a peaceful king he's perceived as weak or not doing his job. Isn't that doing a good job? Trying to keep peace and not just going to war.
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He's aware of the Targaryens, why they're feared and their position in the world and knows it's because of their arsenal, their dragons. He understands that without those dragons Targaryens wouldn't be anything.
He's under no illusions. Just because he's a good man, doesn't mean he's not a smart or wise man. He knows full well what the game is. He knows people lust after that throne. But he's a wise man and understands the implications of being king. When he names Rhaenyra as heir, it's not done lightly. It's a serious thing he's putting on to his daughter.
He's basically cursing his daughter because that is a cursed seat. It's not a great seat to be on.
With all that in mind was it a challenging role to prepare for?
Preparing is one thing, but when you start a character and you're in a project as long as this, they start to grow. You start to bring elements of yourself into it.
It used to secretly annoy me that people perceived him as weak and vulnerable because he's not. That started to make me angry and as a result, I started getting angrier and less tolerant - as a character, not as Paddy. I remember saying to [showrunners] Miguel and Ryan, "This guy is not a pushover. They might perceive him as weak but they're only bitching because he won't start wars and fulfil their needs unnecessarily." He's not a pushover. He's a dragon and we need to see that too.
I fought for that. He's not just a good old jolly man. He's a man with a lot of conflict. He's dealing with a lot of stuff. The perception of being weak because you won't serve people's needs annoyed me and I used it in the character.
Even in the first episode, I used it when I banished someone. I'm like, "Don't f*** with me, because I'm not a weak man."
That was important to me, not for egotistical reasons, but he's a king and he's a good king but there are times when he has to put the message out that he's not somebody you can f*** about with. Look, it's annoying me now.
There's an expectation around the Game of Thrones brand. Does this have all the killing, sex and gore the series is known for?
Oh, it's got all that in it. It fulfils every one of those criteria in episode one! Sex, gore and killings. There's a lot of that. Death, fire, blood, mud, snot… it's got all the elements.
"You've got one shot at this and if you f*** it up we were right."
The actors: Emma D'Arcy and Olivia Cooke.
The characters:Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen is played by Emma, while Olivia stars as Lady Alicent Hightower.
The deal: The outspoken Rhaenyra is a skilled fighter and dragon rider who unexpectedly gets named heir to the Iron Throne. Her lifelong friend Alicent is a woman of the court with a strong sense of duty.
What were you doing when you found out you got your parts, what emotions flashed through your head?
Emma: The audition process for me was really long. We were in the middle of a pandemic and I taped and taped and taped for them for months and eventually did a six-hour in-person audition. Then I didn't hear anything. Then I was told it wasn't going to go my way. And then a weekend later I got the call.
I was in a field. I hadn't seen anyone in three years because of Covid, which only made the whole thing more surreal. Aside from the excitement and a truckload of adrenaline I initially felt relieved. Because after three months of auditioning and taping for this show, you have to create space in your life for this character. In spite of yourself, you're already invested. I wasn't ready for that to end.
Olivia: I had a similarly long process and various auditions and then a really lovely chat with Ryan and Miguel where they alluded to the fact that it was going my way - but maybe not...
Then there were two weeks where they put me on hold, then a four-week wait and then a six-week wait. Then I auditioned in August and got a phone call midway through October. I was crouching by the plug socket because my phone was on charge. I was euphoric and then immediately dreaded having to do it knowing the legacy of the past show.
Emma, it's been said yours is the most important role in the show. How does that feel?
Emma: I'm glad it wasn't said to me! We all feel a responsibility because we're taking characters who are really treasured by people. We're aware that we're making a show that already has a culture that exists around it.
We both feel really lucky and are both really interested in the people that we play. I try to live there rather than thinking about the broader applications of the work.
What was the most difficult thing about shooting the series?
Emma: The most difficult thing is the stamina that's required. I'd never done a job this long. We shot for almost 11 months. It's a demanding narrative so you've rarely got a day when you're just, say, getting out of a car. It's long and the days are long and the requirement is high. That's the most challenging.
Olivia: I'd never done a job where you have these huge set pieces, and within those set pieces, there are multiple stunts and dragons and 50 named characters and the scene is 10 pages long and going to take two weeks to film and you've got to cry all the way through it. That was an absolute utter marathon. I don't think you can train for that. You can only just go through it.
A famous showbiz phrase is never work with children or animals. How was working with dragons?
Emma: Children are worse.
Olivia: There's a very precise technical aspect to shooting with CGI mythical creatures, there's not much room for creativity. It's really technical but quite limiting. They do a pre-visual and block the dragons' path beforehand so we have to slot into that. It does make for long days shooting in that regard.
Things didn't work out so well when Daenerys held the iron throne in Game of Thrones. Will Rhaenyra's rule be different?
Emma: I think because you have one female ruler that can't speak to women at large as leaders.
The problem is that as soon as you have a woman, or any minority group, put into a leadership position, if they are not exemplary they risk putting their cause backwards. Because that's how patriarchy operates. It's like you've got one shot at this and if you f*** it up we were right. I don't take Daenerys as any model for leadership.
What I would say is that Westeros is a patriarchal culture and womanhood within that world is equated with motherhood, amenability, passivity and with duty. The question for our characters as women who are looking to have power or looking to rule is how do you convince, and prove to an electorate of male subjects, that you are not other? How do you do that? That's the question that makes the show pertinent at this moment.
"Take away the misogynistic storyline and these women are still complex human beings."
The actors: Milly Alcock and Emily Carey
The characters:Milly plays the young Rhaenyra Targaryen while Emily stars as young Alicent Hightower.
The deal: The two besties see their life paths diverge as Rhaenyra is surprisingly named heir to the throne and Alicent's sense of duty sees her drift out of the court.
How was the audition process?
Milly: My audition process was really quick, which made me surprisingly nervous because it felt like I hadn't earned the position to be there. I went into my agent's office and did two self-tapes and I got a call. It was very fast.
Emily: The thing is you were born for this role. With me, I did an initial self-tape and had some very strange requirements I'd never had before. I had to do a close-up of my nose, eyes, mouth and profiles. I remember me and my mum cracking up trying to do this self-tape. I thought this is so overly specific, they clearly need someone who looks a lot like the older version. We knew it was for the younger version of someone, we just didn't know who.
Westeros is a very patriarchal world, how do your characters navigate it?
Emily: Alicent is a product of the patriarchy. She's acutely aware of where she fits into this world and knows the Game of Thrones very well. It's how aware she is of her relationships with the people around her that's explored throughout the series. She's got a deeper understanding of it than Rhaenyra, I believe.
Milly: Rhaenyra has lived her whole life with this constant conversation that her mother needs to have a son. She's been brought into this world knowing that she isn't enough as she is. She by nature is a strong person and has a palpable power that sits within her so she devoted herself to proving that she is as good as a man. She dragon-rides, she causes mischief, she's outspoken... in a sense to desperately be seen and heard by her father to be enough. Once that happens her and her father's relationship becomes very, very interesting.
Did you feel any pressure coming into this world?
Milly: Nah. No pressure. Do you feel any pressure, Emily?
Emily: No.
Milly: It's terrifying. Absolutely terrifying.
Emily: It's huge. Regardless of whatever the outside influence is, the pressure that you put on yourself is massive.
Milly: People forget that we've just been us our whole lives and now suddenly it's like, "Oh, you're on the most anticipated show in the world." You're like, "Me? Out of all the people, it's me?" It's very tricky and I don't think any of us have properly processed it yet.
Emily: I don't know if you can ever process it. It's such a whirlwind experience. I wasn't even expecting to get a callback.
Milly: No. Not at all.
George R.R. Martin has said that every character on the show is flawed. How flawed are your characters?
Milly: All the characters are flawed because they reflect real people. People by nature are flawed. Everybody's going to have a different perspective. People are going to hate Rhaenyra as much as they love her.
Emily: That's what takes it from characters on paper to complex human beings with emotions and experiences that progress over time. People are expecting Alicent to be the villain of the show, but there's so much more. I have no shame in playing a villain, if you hate Alicent, amazing, that means I've done my job well.
But there's so much more to these two women, which is why it was important to bring them in young, to show how they become the women that they're expected to be.
A main theme of the show is women's power or the denial of this power by men. It's very relevant to issues today.
Emily: That's what makes the show so watchable. Even though we're looking at a period drama, even though it's fantasy it's taking place in a different period of time, and even though it's a completely different world, the themes are still so strong in today's world. When it comes to misogyny you just have to read a few headlines in the news and you can see how it relates.
Milly: How many women's rights issues are being floated around? We could go on and on about how it relates to our current modern-day politics when it comes to the misogyny of the show. It's one of our leading storylines; can a woman sit on the Iron Throne?
What I love about the show is that if you take away the misogyny storyline these women are still complex human beings. They are still a character with depth and still have other things going on. These characters aren't just in the story to fulfil the purpose of telling this misogynistic storyline, there's so much more to them.
"The same deceit, back-stabbing, war, love, lust, passion, rage... all the stuff that made Thrones interesting is alive in House of the Dragon."
The actors: Matt Smith and Fabien Frankel
The characters:Matt stars as Prince Daemon Targaryen while Fabien plays his rival Ser Criston Cole.
The deal: When the cruel and violently inclined Daemon is jilted from the line of succession he gets very upset. Criston, on the other hand, has designs on Alicent.
Matt, your character is ruthlessly ambitious, a dirty fighter and fond of violence. Any endearing characteristics?
Matt: Personally, knowing Daemon a bit, I think he's loyal and has a set of values that he really sticks by. They're just different to other people's. I think there's more to him than meets the eye. There's a degree more sensitivity and fragility there. But I don't know really, it's a bit of a blur. You do the work, they cut it all together and I'm as in the dark as you. I don't know which version they've picked from the work I did. But he's not just one thing, is what I will say. He's a very complicated man.
The first time we see you both you're engaged in an extremely brutal fight. How did you prepare for this action scene?
Fabien: The amazing stunt team is led by the guy who did all the stunts on the original show. There were some iconic fights in that show. They worked with us very closely to get this fight down. Matt always says it's like a dance. That's how it felt. I felt very safe doing it with Matt.
Matt, you've previously said Targaryens are just like a normal family, could you explain that a bit more?
Matt: Well you know, they eat, they sleep, they bleed, they feel pain, fear, they feel exposed. For all the madness and extremes that they go to, they're human beings. They're experiencing normal family life as they know it. They're not aliens.
What was the hardest part of making the show for you both?
Fabien: These characters change so much over the course of the show, that's what makes them such rich human beings and why they're so interesting for us to play.
But I found it very difficult. I came from the theatre where everything is chronological, so you kind of wish everything was chronological on screen. The first scenes we shot are for episode six or seven where time has changed and people are different, and trying to mirror where I am and trying to mark that versus where I am at the beginning of the show and trying to compute all that... I found it very difficult.
Matt: Yeah, it's very dense isn't it? It's a dense script. Similarly, well, Damo's complexities were the things that drew me to him. He's not black or white, he's not A or B, there's the whole alphabet to figure out and at any point, you never really know what he's gonna think or what he's gonna do. Which is one of the things as an actor I found attractive because it allows for a certain amount of instinct to come into play.
What do you think this show has that will distinguish it from the original and bring in a new audience?
Matt: Our story's different in that it's a more localised, focused family drama. Thrones was in the North and in the South and in the East... there were lots of different elements to it. This focus is really on the World of Westeros and one family. The world feels familiar but also feels original.
The same deceit, back-stabbing, war, love, lust, passion, rage... all of that stuff that made Thrones interesting is alive in House of the Dragon.
THE LOWDOWN
What: The House of the Dragon
Where: Screening on Sky's SoHo channel and streaming on Neon.
When: Begins Monday, with the first episode simulcast on SoHo at 1pm, with a replay at 8.30pm and express streaming on Neon.
