Matt Smith has started work on his latest role with filming underway in the UK on House of the Dragon, a prequel series to fantasy epic, Game of Thrones.
Smith was pictured shooting scenes alongside Emma D’Arcy at Holywell Bay in Cornwall. The producers had earlier marked the start of production by tweeting an image of a socially-distanced readthrough at a location seemingly borrowed from a Bond villain.
Film crews and sets have also been spotted at St Michael’s Mount, near Penzance. UK locations were frequently used for Game of Thrones and location spotters will no doubt be keeping their eyes peeled for any further instances of filming in the coming months.
The new series is based on George RR Martin’s 2018 novel Fire & Blood which delves into the history of House Targaryen, one of the key families from the A Song of Ice and Fire books, adapted for television as Game of Thrones.
Events in House of the Dragon take place some 300 years before those seen in Game of Thrones, with Smith playing Prince Daemon Targaryen, uncle and husband of D’Arcy’s character, Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen. Game of Thrones viewers will recognise those trademark Targaryen blond locks as worn by Daenerys in that show.
Other cast members in House of the Dragon include Paddy Considine, Olivia Cooke, and Steve Toussaint. The show will reach the screen in 2022 and is the first of a number of mooted Game of Thrones spin-off series to go into production. A pilot episode for an earlier production, The Long Night written by Jane Goldman, was shot in 2019 but HBO decided against commissioning a full series.
Having starred in Doctor Who, Smith has a better idea than most of the kind of attention a leading role in a major fantasy or sci-fi series will attract. Game of Thrones was a major international success for HBO and it’s not surprising they are returning to the same territory for House of the Dragon in a bid to strike gold again.
