House of the Dragon’s Matt Smith on Rhaenyra and Daemon’s Vicious Fight: ‘God, She Nails Him, Doesn’t She?’
Warning: This post contains spoilers for House of the Dragon Season 2, Episode 2.
You know what they say about married couples and fighting: Never ride off on your dragon angry.
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Yet that’s exactly what Daemon did in Sunday’s House of the Dragon, directly following an argument with Rhaenyra that may change the course of their relationship — not to mention their allied pursuit of the Iron Throne — forever.
“God, she really nails him, doesn’t she?” Matt Smith tells TVLine in the video above, referring to the way Rhaenyra finally voices what she’s suspected all along: that Daemon really wants to rule the Realm himself.
The fight comes after Rhaenyra gets word of Prince Jaeherys’ murder and quickly realizes that her uncle/husband was intimately involved in the gruesome act. (Read a full episode recap.) Despite the brutality of Daemon and Rhaenyra’s words, Smith adds that he enjoyed shooting the scene with co-star Emma D’Arcy. “I sort of liked it, because it was a moment, in a way, in a show like this, where it can feel domestic, which is really hard to do.”
We also spoke with showrunner Ryan Condal about the pivotal exchange, which he says he feels is an extension of the Season 1 finale scene in which Daemon grabs Rhaenyra by the throat. “I don’t think any of that has been resolved. I think it was just put on hold because Luke died,” he explains. “So, when Rhaenyra comes back and then Daemon reacts, it opens up all these kind of papered-over wounds and forces them into a real analysis of their marriage.”
Press PLAY on the video above to hear Smith and Condal talk about the fight (and to hear co-stars Olivia Cooke and Fabien Frankel chime in), then hit the comments with your take on the big brawl.
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