Matt Smith wasn’t fond of riding dragons on ‘House of the Dragon’

Smith plays Daemon Targaryen in HBO’s Game of Thrones prequel show, House of the Dragon. As the name suggests, there are a lot of dragons involved and some get to ride the mystical creature as well.

At one of the premieres of the show, Matt was asked by Entertainment Tonight what it was like shooting with a dragon. The actor responded that ‘riding dragons was not as fun as it looks’.

“Depends if you’re on it or you’re looking at it,” he began. “What they do is they build this huge plinth and you’re on it… and you’re like 20 feet in the air, and they harness you in. And then they fire a load of wind and rain at you.”

“Then you just pretend to be on a dragon. It’s like being on a bucking Bronco. And after 10 hours, you are like, ‘look, it’s been really fun for the first hour, but get me down,” he shares. “I want a sandwich,” he adds.

Smith’s character is violent and lustful who loves making war and covets the Iron Throne occupied by his brother King Viserys I Targaryen. Daemon’s dragon Caraxes is a big player, and just as hot-tempered as his rider.

“Caraxes is pretty good, y’know? He’s big and red and angry,” Smith said in an interview with Fansided. “He’s a really angry dragon. Mine’s the angriest of all the dragons. There is no angrier dragon than Caraxes. He’s a real moody bastard.”

Apart from riding dragons, Matt is also known for hating his wigs. In an interview with BBC Radio 1, the cast of the show was asked who of all of them hated their wigs the most.

To that, actress Emma D'Arcy and Olivia Cooke responded in almost unison, “Matt.”

“But Matt had more wigs anyway,” Olivia says. “Yeah, but Matt had more to say about his wigs,” interjects Emma while Olivia laughs. “And he hated them. And he had more of them.”

In the next frame, Matt Smith and Paddy Considine are asked the same question, and Smith quickly points to himself.

“Paddy is really patient,” Matt says of his costar. “He’s a very patient human being. Like he can sit there in hair and makeup for six hours, not a scratch on him. You know he’ been there for like half-three and I turn up at half-five.”

“I think my makeup team will probably tell you a different story,” and the two laugh. In that moment, Considine shares that he loved his wig and he thought it was ‘beautiful’.