Matt Smith reveals the prop he kept from the ‘House of the Dragon’ set
The actor told Rolling Stone UK about his best set keepsakes during his recent digital cover shoot
Matt Smith has revealed that he kept a sword from the set of the forthcoming Game of Thrones prequel series, House of the Dragon.
Speaking to Rolling Stone UK at his recent digital cover shoot, the actor shared which keepsakes he has accumulated from various roles over the years.
“I kept some cool stuff when I was doing Doctor Who,” he said, reflecting on his time as the Eleventh Doctor. “I kept the costume because they give you it, but you’ve just got a costume in your house that you can never wear, because you’d look like a real wally.”
The actor shared that he also got to keep the the Doctor’s trusty Sonic Screwdriver.
He also held onto a special prop from his time on set for House of the Dragon, in which he plays Daemon Targaryen.
The show, which is set two centuries before Game of Thrones, chronicles the dramatic fall of the House Targaryen.
“I’ve got Dark Sister, from House of the Dragon, at home,” he said. “It’s a sword that the character I play has. They named it Dark Sister, and it’s a particular type of steel. It’s just propped up against a bookshelf.”
Smith also reflected on his experience of playing various fantasy characters over the years. “You can root them in a reality, which is interesting, and B, you can lean into the otherness elements of them, and it allows you a sort of freedom.”
He continued: “I think we all need to sort of extricate ourselves, don’t we? From the mundanity of every day life.
“Hopefully, with our show House of the Dragon, it will provide a degree of the fantastical escapism for people, and sort of play the hits, as it were.”
In his digital cover interview, Smith told Rolling Stone UK about what fans can expect from his character in the spinoff series.
“He’s sort of an outsider,” he said. “He’s not black and white, there are shades of grey with him, which is what interested me about him. And his relationship with his brother is really interesting. It was a joy working with Paddy Considine, who I’ve admired for so long, and Rhys Ifans.”
He also revealed details about his own scaly co-star. “My dragon’s called Caraxes. He’s a bit of an avatar of Daemon — he’s grumpy, sardonic, insular, volatile, chaotic. There’s a very strong connection between the dragon and the dragonrider.”
You can read the full Rolling Stone UK digital cover interview with Matt Smith here.
House of the Dragon premieres on Sky Atlantic/NOW TV (UK) and HBO (US) on 22 August.