‘House of the Dragon’: Matt Smith, Olivia Cooke and More on Dragon Riding, Sword Fighting and Anticipation for ‘Game of Thrones’ Spinoff

variety.com:

Angelique Jackson Days after soaring into San Diego Comic-Con’s Hall H to preview the “Game of Thrones” prequel, the “House of the Dragon” cast re-assembled for the series’ world premiere at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures in Los Angeles on Wednesday night.Set nearly 200 years before the events of the mega-hit HBO series, “House of the Dragon” focuses on the Targaryen dynasty in all their dysfunction — and with all their dragons.With 17 winged creatures appearing in the first season alone, many of the actors spent a considerable amount of time pretending to fly. Matt Smith, who stars as Prince Daemon Targaryen, told Variety that riding the mechanical buck that mimicked a dragon was “good fun.” “You’re on a remote control, and someone’s there moving it around, and then they fire a load of wind and rain at you,” he quipped. “Beats working for a living.”But the sword fighting proved a little more dangerous.

At Comic-Con, his co-star Fabien Frankel (Ser Criston Cole) admitted he accidentally “axed” Smith in the face during a rehearsal.“I really regret saying this because I’ve been asked if I severely injured him,” Frankel said when reminded about the revelation. “But I did feel at the time, ‘God of all the people that I could have possibly axed in the face, Matt was the worst one.’ I was ready for them to go, ‘Matt Smith, is it?

You’re out the show.’”Smith had no hard feelings about the accident though, saying: “He chinned me, but it was alright. I lived to fight another day.”There are a few less swords involved in Olivia Cooke’s portrayal of Alicent Hightower (save for one infamous catspaw dagger seen in the trailers), but her character’s storyline still cuts deep.