Matt Smith aims for Daemon Targaryen's 'worst self' in 'House of the Dragon'

Matt Smith, reprising his role as Daemon Targaryen in the upcoming season of HBO's "House of the Dragon," is focused on exploring the character's darker impulses.

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The most important thing for me has been to let him become the worst version of himself.

"The most important thing for me has been to let him become the worst version of himself," Smith told TT. He described Daemon as a character who pushes boundaries, engaging in actions that seem irrecoverable. Whether this makes him a villain or an anti-hero, Smith believes, is for the audience to interpret, but it is precisely this complexity that makes Daemon most interesting to him.

Smith revealed his growing appreciation for the horror genre, finding that when done well, it offers audiences a temporary escape from everyday life into something compelling. He sees fear as a vital element in "House of the Dragon," a series set in the "prehistory" of "Game of Thrones" and marked by intense power struggles, betrayal, murder, and dragons.

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When it's done right, it can lift the audience out of everyday life and into something interesting for a couple of hours.

When asked about the high mortality rate of characters in the series, Smith admitted that actors often have a sense of whether their characters will survive, even with George R.R. Martin's "Fire & Blood" as a literary source. However, he noted that the screenwriters sometimes diverge from the book, leaving the ultimate fate of characters uncertain until the scripts are distributed.

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Fear is an important ingredient even in 'House of the Dragon'.

Looking ahead, Smith, who has previously starred in "The Crown" and "The Death of Bunny Munro," expressed a current affinity for fantasy and science fiction, seeing them as fertile ground for strong acting. He humorously alluded to an upcoming role in "Star Wars: Starfighter," stating it is set in space.

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If I'm being completely honest, I usually have a feeling about whether I'm going to live or die. But we'll have to wait to discover our fates until we read what's in the script.