With the premiere of House of the Dragon Season 2 right around the corner and a new season of Doctor Who staring Ncuti Gatwa as The Doctor airing on the 2024 TV schedule, Matt Smith was asked a silly question about the two shows. However, he was so game to think about the answer as he told The AP this about how his time lord would act if he took the TARDIS to the world of Game of Thrones:

First of all, I love that Matt Smith’s initial answer was all about The Doctor getting his hands on one of the Targaryen dragons. Of course, his first thought had to do with the dragons. When talking about Daemon, the actor always loves to mention the creature. However, it’s not a shock at all that he also thinks his Eleventh Doctor would want to take a dragon home with him too.

Adding to this on-brand answer, I totally agree with him that The Doctor would try to help Daemon become a better person. I’m sure he’d throw out some words of wisdom that would wind up on a list of iconic Doctor Who quotes, and I hope he’d help the Targaryen prince become a little less self-centered and power-hungry. 

The last part of this answer is honestly what makes it the most on-brand for both Smith and the Eleventh Doctor. The time lord, as great as he is, is an agent of chaos, so you know he’d bring some thrill to Westeros (not that it needs more of it). 

Hopefully, that could help put an end to the Targaryen civil war or maybe it could help Daemon or other characters out a bit. However, there is no denying that the sci-fi character brings chaos wherever he goes, which would only make House of the Dragon wilder. 

Obviously, The Doctor will never go to Westeros. However, it’s fun to dream, and I love that Matt Smith was down to. These two characters are some of his best, and the shows they come from will no doubt go down in TV history. 

While a Doctor Who and House of the Dragon crossover is something we can only fantasize about, luckily, in real life, there are new seasons of both on this year’s TV schedule. So, as we keep dreaming about what would happen if The Doctor met Daemon, you can stream the new season of Doctor Who with a Disney+ subscription, and you’ll be able to catch new episodes of House of the Dragon’s second season with a Max subscription when it returns on Sunday, June 16 at 9 p.m. ET.

Speaking to THR at the show’s New York premiere on Monday, Emma D'Arcy opened up about their experience filming the second season of the popular HBO series without their fellow HotD cast members Matt Smith and Olivia Cooke. The Truth Seekers veteran actor admitted that the absence of their fellow actors left them feeling isolated and "kind of lonely" on set. 

However, it makes being a viewer more fun, as they shared:

The Game of Thrones universe and Emma D'Arcy have been trending topics since the premiere of the spinoff prequel series in 2022. The Wanderlust star’s portrayal of Rhaenyra has been widely praised, but the actor's recent revelations have shed light on the personal challenges they faced during production. The O Holy Ghost actor described the experience as both lonely and transformative. They continued:

Despite the loneliness, D'Arcy found a silver lining in the experience. The changing cast dynamics not only allowed them to appreciate the series from a fresh perspective, akin to that of a dedicated fan but also added a layer of excitement to the show's evolution. This newfound appreciation underscores the show's evolving nature, which continues to introduce new characters and storylines that keep the audience eagerly engaged.

With Daemon departing Dragonstone to join the fight, there were fewer scenes between D’Arcy and Matt Smith. Reflecting on this, the former Doctor Who actor echoed his costar's sentiments:

Although it's disappointing that we won't see many scenes between Daemon and Rhaenyra as well as Rhaenyra and Alicent in the upcoming season, it makes sense, given the dramatic conclusion of HOTD's fires season. Their separation paves the way for more intense and brutal events in the Targaryen civil war, known as the Dance of Dragons. Overall, there are several moments from Fire & Blood that fans like me eagerly anticipate, so bring on the premiere! 

Season 2 of House of the Dragon premieres June 16 on Max. Fans can catch up on Season 1 with a Max subscription, and then they'll be ready to see these characters navigating the ever-expanding world of Westeros when the GOT prequel returns this summer.

What Did Game of Thrones’ John Bradley Say About Being Typecast And Getting A Career Reset?

For those who may not remember, one of the few characters who survived all the madness that went down across eight seasons on Game of Thrones was portrayed by John Bradley, who played the unbelievably decent Samwell Tarly for the entire run. As one of maybe a handful of people who truly wanted no part of politics, war, or ruling who became one of the long-running Game of Thrones characters in the most episodes, Sam was very different from many of those around him. 

As Bradley recently told The Hollywood Reporter, he’s definitely been typecast since the 2019 finale of the fantasy hit. But, he’s hoping that his part in Dan Weiss and David Benioff’s new series, 3 Body Problem (which you can watch with a Netflix subscription), will kick off a new era in his career. He said:

The actor had really just started his on-screen career the year that GOT debuted, in 2011, as his only credits for that year are that book to screen adaptation and the series Borgia: Faith and Fear. After people got to see his work as the loyal, kind, book-loving Sam, however, he was really off to the races.

Bradley also noted that the creators of GOT, who also created 3 Body Problem, seemed to have “realized halfway through” the run of their first hit show that the man they chose to play Sam was actually nothing like his character, at least when it came to his confidence and comfort with his “place in the world.” Jack Rooney (his character on the recently debuted series), however, has both of those things in spades, along with being a bit full of himself and kind of a “dick,” as Bradley noted, and the duo actually both based the character on him and wrote the role specifically for him. He added:

Considering that Jack turned out to be quite likable, despite his dickish tendencies, the role could very well open a lot of new doors for John Bradley before too long.

Clarke has spoken in the past about “feeling pressured” to perform naked for certain Daenerys Targaryen scenes. She’s always been clear Momoa was really there for her when she was still relatively new to Hollywood and didn’t know exactly how to navigate complex situations. But when she started filming the show, she didn’t feel super empowered to comment on what made her feel comfortable and what didn’t. Plus, she's spoken about how her role in Game of Thrones nearly didn’t pan out in the first place.

Emilia Clarke Really Had To Fight To Land The Daenerys Targaryen Role 

She told the Armchair Expert podcast the show had to really push to hire her at 23 and it was really touch and go. They’d already filmed the infamous unsuccessful original pilot and the actress was coming in “off the back” of that. She first met with “David, Dan, Carolyn Strauss and Frank Doelger in a little room in Soho” and auditioned for them. That wasn’t enough.

She then had to fly all the way to Los Angeles to put on a little show for HBO execs, and the whole thing was so unnerving that years later she told Dax Shepherd she “felt like [she] blacked out for the whole experience.” She said:

Clarke had read the books twice at this point preparing for the audition, so she already knew she didn’t quite fit George R.R. Martin’s idea of Daenerys, who was “tall” and “willowy.” She said the interview itself was in a big auditorium and she even did some insane stuff, like the chicken dance, so she was not sure she landed the role – particularly given she was such a newcomer in the industry and it was such a big role. But she nailed it.

Then she got the scripts.

Emilia Clarke On Meeting Jason Momoa And How He Helped Her

After landing the lead as Daenerys Targaryen, she realized that nudity was written into the script and required. Which was fine, but she also didn’t know how to advocate for herself or what was OK and not OK being new to the set. She specifically said it was “hard” and she was well aware she was “new to the game and realizing that in a hair’s breadth it could all disappear."

The good news? She had Jason Momoa -- whom she called a "seasoned" actor already at that point, to help her navigate what was and wasn't allowed on set. She said during the podcast that while she wasn't comfortable speaking out, it was her onscreen husband who came to her aid and was much more sensitive about the number of people who were around on set. He made sure she was set up, which she calls "fortunate" looking back:

The early scenes on the series are fairly faithful to George R.R. Martin’s written works (though characters like Ros don't exist), which means that Game of Thrones features plenty of nudity. Scenes where Dany deals with rape and weird moments with her brother are all part of a storyline intended to highlight how she takes control of her own narrative as a grown, powerful woman later on. But filming all of that on set is a very different experience, and Emilia Clarke said in the interview she didn’t feel “worthy of requiring anything” when the fantasy series was only the third time she’d been on a major set.

She's sort of hinted at feeling uncomfortable early on while filming before. She previously also told a story about why Dany has such good posture in the fantasy drama, revealing it's because she was terrified and her mom had asked her to sit up straight. She did what she was asked and it became a character trait that stuck.

Despite the worries and hiccups, her time on Thrones sounds like it was largely positive, and she's still championing her working relationship with Momoa years later. The actor still refers to her as his Game of Thrones wifey (which never stops being cute as heck). She noted it's really just a part of his overall personality to be as Momoa-y as possible. It's a case of what you see is exactly what you get.

Being vulnerable onscreen can be hard, particularly when you are new to Hollywood. These days Emilia Clarke is much more seasoned on set, and says she knows her way around a contract. Yet despite some trials with her HBO gig, there's clearly been some great stuff to come out of it too, including a career uptick and a friendship with one big bear of an actor.

The twisted Targaryen family tree is on the way back to primetime with House of the Dragon Season 2, and HBO went all-out with the trailers to set up the Blacks vs. the Greens. With the majority of the Season 1 stars reprising their roles for the second season, Matt Smith – a.k.a. Daemon Targaryen himself – has shared the reservations he had about joining the series after the phenomenon of Game of Thrones.

Matt Smith was arguably the best-known member of the House of the Dragon cast ahead of Season 1 thanks to Doctor Who and The Crown, and readers of George R.R. Martin's Fire & Blood knew that anybody playing Daemon would be portraying a tricky character. According to Matt Smith to Variety, however, the complications of the Rogue Prince weren't what concerned him about joining the first Game of Thrones spinoff. He shared what he told creators Ryan Condal and Miguel Sapochnik during the casting process:

It was a valid concern – Game of Thrones had only ended with its divisive series finale a year earlier in 2019 when Matt Smith met with the creators in 2020 about possibly playing Daemon. The final season heavily featured the only remaining branch of the Targaryen family tree and culminated in one of the last two killing the other. That kind of conflict already began in House of the Dragon Season 1 and is set to continue in Season 2, although on a much larger scale than Dany and Jon.

Of course, fans who were burned by the GOT finale might have been wary of House of the Dragon, not least because premiering a fantasy epic in 2022 was very different from Game of Thrones coming out of nowhere in 2011. The era of "peak TV" has ended since the final credits rolled on Thrones, as Matt Smith observed:

Expectations are different in the House of the Dragon era vs. Game of Thrones era, not least because streaming and binge-watching are popular ways of consuming television nowadays. There are also more fantasy TV options than there were in the GOT days, ranging from Netflix'sThe Witcher to Prime Video's The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power.

Matt Smith went on to tell the outlet that while comparisons between HOTD and Thrones were "unavoidable, when you’re standing on the shoulders of a show that really got into the cultural zeitgeist of the world," he didn't expect his show to match its predecessor. He went on:

It may be for the best that House of the Dragon can't recreate the Game of Thrones "moment in time," as all that love and affection for the show made disappointment in the ending hit all the harder for fans who didn't get what they wanted from the series finale back in 2019.

The two shows are also very different, for all that they have the same theme song and are set in the Seven Kingdoms. At the very least, there are a whole lot more dragons and plenty of incest that isn't considered taboo in the show set centuries before Jon Snow and Co. took center stage in Game of Thrones!

Fortunately for fans who have been missing House of the Dragon for the better part of two years now, Season 2 will arrive in the 2024 TV schedule on Sunday, June 16 at 9 p.m. ET. If you want to revisit the first season (or full run of Game of Thrones) in the meantime, you can do so streaming with a Max subscription.

What Did George R.R. Martin Say About Most Adaptations Not Working?

It may have taken well over a decade, but once someone found a way to adapt George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire novels, there was basically no turning back. As we all know, HBO’s Game of Thrones was an impressive mega-hit (despite backlash about the last season and series finale) with long legs. We’re about to go into House of the Dragon Season 2, and several other GOT universe adaptations (including the upcoming A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms: The Hedge Knight, which is about Dunk and Egg) are being worked on, so Martin knows a thing or two about the process.

He recently wrote on his Not a Blog that adaptations almost never work, and said:

He’s not wrong. If you’ve ever been eager to see one of your favorite books turned into a show or movie, you have certainly heard screenwriters/producers say those types of things and then become worried about whether or not they’ll actually be able to nail the adaptation. Martin continued:

And, we’ve certainly all been here. We waited and hoped and now the screen version of a novel we hold dear to our hearts has arrived and…WTF did they do to it?!?! But, every now and then the creatives behind an adaptation really do hit it out of the park, and manage to bring the source material to life in a way that satisfies fans old and new, and I really do agree with his assessment that one recent project hits the right note. As Martin said:

Ah, yes. Everyone and their great-great-grandmother has been talking about Shōgun, and it’s nearly impossible to deny that the adaptation is a thorough and thrilling retelling of the original story. So, why is this historical drama, which is based on James Clavell’s 1975 novel of the same name, different from so many others?

Why Does George R.R. Martin Think Shōgun Is An Adaptation That Works?

Part of the obvious issue with adaptations is that people will have major expectations, especially for something that was already a massive hit in book form, and it’s impossible to please everyone. But, Shōgun is a recent effort that has pretty much managed to do just that, with even our own Rich Knight finding more to love about Shōgun than not, and the miniseries being popular/well-received enough that two additional seasons are (Surprise!) now in the planning stages. Martin admitted that he was “dubious” when he found out another screen version of Shōgun was on the way, but added:

Therein lies the trick, I suppose. As the writer noted when he spoke about adaptations at an event in 2022, he believes that “legitimate” changes are limited to things like budgetary concerns for productions, and what can logically be created for the screen given the money available. However, other attempts to “make the story their own” count as “illegitimate” updates for him, and, honestly, that seems to be true for many other book lovers who are dying to have novels they love faithfully turned into TV shows and movies.

The epic saga of Game of Thrones came to what is widely considered a not-so-epic end back in 2019, with a finale that for many was underwhelming at best and awful at worst. After I rewatched the pilot on the 12-year anniversary back in April, I decided that it was only fair for me to revisit the series finale for its fifth anniversary in May and see if some of the sour notes from 2019 are a little sweeter circa 2024 ahead of House of the Dragon Season 2, which will make for blockbuster summer streaming for those with Max subscriptions.

For some context, I wasn't exactly angry about how Game of Thrones ended back in 2019; more just disappointed. I'd run out of enthusiasm back in Episode 4 of the eighth and final season, starting very specifically with Daenerys' decision to legitimize Gendry into a valid claimant for the Iron Throne. So, my hope for my finale rewatch was simply to find a silver lining in the disappointment, and there was ultimately enough to make me want to start the series over again.

Daenerys' Speech (And Emilia Clarke's Performance)

I was one of what seemed like relatively few back in the day who didn't have a problem with Dany snapping and roasting King's Landing. There was plenty of foreshadowing; the problem was the pacing that led to that fateful decision. Her finale speech in King's Landing really showed the culmination of her journey, not least because she spoke in Dothraki and High Valyrian. Nobody could deliver a grand speech in a fictional language quite like Emilia Clarke, and I didn't fully appreciate the scale after the first time I watched the finale.

Do I know how there were so many Dothraki when the majority of them were supposed to have perished during the battle of Winterfell? I sure don't, but that doesn't take away from Dany's speech.

Jon And Tyrion's Reactions To Dany's Speech

Jon and Tyrion weren't fluent in High Valyrian, but both men clearly clocked the moment in Dany's call to war when she mentioned Winterfell and Lannisport. With both already questioning her leadership after she burned King's Landing, the expressions on Kit Harington and Peter Dinklage's faces really hit me a little harder this time. Plus, seeing Dany's sense of righteous fury while Jon and Tyrion grew uneasy strikes me as parallel for what's to come in House of the Dragon's second season as the Targaryen family tree rips itself apart on dragonback, with the common folk presumably paying a high price.

Plus, Jon always felt more like the son of Ned Stark than of Rhaegar Targaryen, and it tracks that he'd be more concerned with Winterfell than blindly following Daenerys.

Drogon Didn't Roast Jon

There were two moments that I was pretty convinced a rewatch couldn't redeem for me, and one of them was that Drogon didn't immediately roast Jon after Jon killed Dany. Jon himself clearly expected it! And while I still think it's nearly as bizarre as Grey Worm not immediately executing Jon well before a council could determine his fate, House of the Dragon Season 1 establishing that dragons definitely have minds of their own and are not 100% beholden to their riders kinda sorta reconciled me to Jon surviving Drogon.

It also encourages me to rewatch from the beginning to see what foreshadowing there may have been – or what can be interpreted as foreshadowing in hindsight – of the "fire" in Jon as the "song of ice and fire."

Jon's Fate Was What Ned's Should Have Been

This was actually my favorite element of my rewatch, and something I entirely missed the first time around: Jon's fate was what Ned's would have been if Joffrey hadn't gone rogue and had him executed. Just like Ned, Jon was considered guilty of treason. Just like Robb with Ned, Sansa had an army of Northmen ready to attack if anything happened to Jon. And just like Season 1, the compromise that would prevent a war would be for the accused man to give up any claims and titles to go to the Wall as a member of the Night's Watch.

This could have been War of the Five Kings 2.0, with whoever was left alive in the Seven Kingdoms. Instead, Jon's fate happened as Ned's was meant to. Talk about a throwback to the very beginning!

The North Becoming Independent

Sansa declaring that Bran could be king of the Six Kingdoms because the North was remaining independent was one of the best parts of the finale even back in 2019. I still think the shot of Yara Greyjoy and the new Dornish Prince immediately after Sansa said it was pretty hilarious, since I have to imagine the Iron Islands and Dorne would have seceded as well if they'd known that was an option before voting.

But Sansa's journey is one that deserves to be revisited, not least because I was originally annoyed by how Game of Thrones' later seasons completely rewrote her A Song of Ice and Fire arc. The girl who couldn't wait to go south became Queen in the North.

Arya's Goodbye To Jon

Part of why I'm glad I rewatched the finale is that I was originally so disappointed in the Stark kids splitting up that I couldn't really take Arya's decision to see "what's west of Westeros" all that seriously. That meant that I didn't really appreciate her goodbye scene with Jon, when theirs was established as such an important relationship at the beginning of the series. Arya showed more emotion in the farewell to Jon than the whole rest of the finale, and the reference to her still having Needle tugged at my heartstrings.

Rewatching this did make the Stark kids splitting up sting all over again, but also made me want to revisit the earliest days of all of them together again.

The Last Shot Parallels The Series' First Shot

Another moment I didn't fully note the first time around was how the last scene of the series with Jon going beyond the Wall was a direct parallel to the first scene of the series. This time, instead of Night's Watch brothers leaving the Wall to find dead wildlings and White Walkers, Jon was traveling with the wildlings after the threat of the White Walkers passed. For as many shortcomings as there were in the last season and certainly the finale, the show did come full circle. This was fresh in my head after rewatching the pilot and now has me in the mood to revisit everything in between.

If all of this seemed Stark-heavy, it's because they were the surviving characters with the most disappointing endings for me. That's not to say that the Starks were flawless – Ned basically got himself executed, Rickon never learned to serpentine, and I could write a whole separate piece about how the show changing Robb's marriage from the books made him look terrible. But the finale made me want to rewatch the Starks in particular from start to finish, and that won't be hard to do with Game of Thrones streaming in full on Max.

The Game of Thrones fandom can be a fierce one. Fiercely loyal to the stories crafted by George R.R. Martin and to the dragon-filled dramas they spawn on HBO…until, that is, they think something wasn’t adapted for the screen correctly. At any rate, as we all await the arrival of House of the Dragon Season 2 and more updates on the next GOT spinoff, The Hedge Knight, Martin has now made a very specific claim about (FINALLY) finishing The Winds of Winter so he can prep more stories for that new series.

What Did George R.R. Martin Say About Finishing Winds Of Winter As He And HBO Work On The Hedge Knight?

For those who are unaware (or who have simply forgotten, because it’s been oh so many years) George R.R. Martin has yet to finish the saga that started this Game of Thrones and spinoff business (all of which you can watch with a Max subscription), A Song of Ice & Fire, as he’s been giving updates on The Winds of Winter (the sixth book) since 2011, and even said in 2015 that his hope was to finish it by (wait for it…) 2016. Meanwhile, he also has plans for a seventh novel, A Dream of Spring, which I can only imagine is still in the primordial stages, considering how long book six is taking.

While writing on his Not a Blog site, the author gave an update on production for The Hedge Knight, and then laid out his (hoped for) specific timeline for completing TWOW, and said:

Alright, I fully admit that I had to read this twice to figure out how he wants to lay out his whole writing process for his many different projects, so let’s break it down to the nitty gritty. THK is nearly done casting and is set to be filming by this July so it can be released at some point next year. Martin (who warned about growing “toxicity” in TV and movie fandoms recently) hopes to complete TWOW before the new show comes out in 2025. 

Now, I know most fans have fully given up on the writer actually, truly, honestly finishing The Winds of Winter by this point, but this plan sounds solid. That is, until you think about what he said just in November 2023, when he admitted that “it’s a big mother of a book” and he was “struggling with it.” But, you know, that was literally half a year ago at this point, so a lot could have really changed by now. Maybe he cracked the code and got that mofo under control so his idea of getting it done by some point in 2025 is realistic at this point. We’ll just have to (continue to) wait (more) and see.

What we know about House of the Dragon Season 2 is limited, but all out war is seemingly brewing between the Blacks and Greens. Showrunner and co-creator Ryan Condal recently spoke to EW about the show's return to TV, where he addressed working in the midst of the WGA and SAG strikes last year. In his words:

There you have it. Essentially House of the Dragon was able to continue filming thanks to some technicalities. The production wasn't included in SAG, so the actors were able to shoot without breaking union strike rules. And since Season 2 was already written, the project didn't need the use of Screen Actors Guild talents to continue filming. After all, the season was written way in advance of filming. 

The House of the Dragon Season 2 trailer teased the specific vision that's coming in the show's sophomore run on television. After the set up of Season 1, the next group of episodes is what hardcore fans who have read the book have been waiting for. 

Later in the same interview, Ryan Condal revealed how far in advance the writing for Season 2 was done, and why that's so important for a show of HOTD's scale. In his words:

Points were made. Just like Game of Thrones, House of the Dragon shoots across various countries, and is a wildly expensive production. And the only way that the necessary planning for the season can be done is if the scripts were completed early. And as such, they didn't need WGA members on hand when filming Season 2 of HOTD. 

All will be revealed when House of the Dragon begins airing new episodes on June 16th. While we wait, check the TV premiere list to plan your next binge watch. 

Emma D’Arcy Acknowledged The Challenges Of Filming House Of The Dragon

Going into Season 2 of HOTD – which premieres on the 2024 TV schedule on June 16 – the stakes were immediately higher for both D’Arcy and Cooke. Last season, Rhaenyra Targaryen and Alicent Hightower were played by Milly Alcock and Emily Carey, respectively for the first five episodes, and then the aforementioned actors took over for the last four installments when the princess and lady were aged up in the Game of Thrones prequel. 

Now, D’Arcy and Cooke will be playing Rhaenyra and Alicent all season. Obviously, the stamina involved in creating a full season is intense, however, for D’Arcy, overall, they have had a pleasant experience. But, before they explained their thoughts on Season 2, they said this about Season 1 to EW: 

They then continued to talk about playing Rhaenyra all season, and revealed that while they enjoy the work, it’s challenging:

It’s always been apparent that shooting House of the Dragon is “exhausting.” Filming intense drama, battles and doing it all in a corset or armor is hard. However, while D’Arcy was fairly easy with their response, their co-star Olivia Cooke did not hold back. 

Olivia Cooke Did Not Hold Back When Explaining How Hard It Is To Film House Of The Dragon 

With no time jumps that involve new actors, Cooke and D’Arcy are amping up their involvement this season big time. As the House of the Dragon dueling trailers showed, the two women are at the hearts of the Greens and the Blacks as they head to war against each other. That’s a lot of pressure to carry, and playing Alicent Hightower was not easy for Cooke as she said:

That sounds so incredibly difficult. However, considering the complexities of the Targaryen family tree, the impending war that has Alicent at the center of it, and her character’s intense relationships with her children, her father and Rhaenyra, I’d imagine it’s a lot to carry as an actress. So, her comments make sense. 

Not to mention, production on shows like this involve long hours and uncomfortable costumes. When you mix all that together, it makes sense why Olivia Cooke was burnt out by the end of Season 2. 

We’ll get to find out what these two actors and the cast of Season 2 of House of the Dragon were working on when the GOT prequel premieres on June 16. While we wait for that, you can go back and watch Olivia Cooke and Emma D’Arcy in Season 1 by streaming it with a Max subscription.