House Of The Dragon star’s reason for avoiding eye contact with Matt Smith

One of the leading cast members of House Of The Dragon has admitted he ‘avoided’ making eye contact with Matt Smith while they were filming the highly-anticipated fantasy prequel.

Ewan Mitchell, who plays Aemond Targaryen, revealed that he made the conscious decision to avoid the Doctor Who star in order to make their performance in the last episode better, when their characters have an intense stare-down.

Matt Smith’s character, Daemon Targaryen, is Aemond’s uncle, and the pair built up a rivalry as the season progressed.

To make their standoff in the final episode even more impactful, Ewan avoided Matt completely and the pair committed to their parts so much that they chose not to have lunch within the vicinity of each other.

Speaking to The Face Magazine, Ewan said: ‘I did something on Dragon that was the first choice I made on my first day.

One of the leading cast members of House Of The Dragon has admitted he ‘avoided’ making eye contact with Matt Smith while they were filming the highly-anticipated fantasy prequel

Ewan Mitchell, who plays Aemond Targaryen, revealed that he made the conscious decision to avoid the Doctor Who star in order to make their performance in the last episode better, when their characters have an intense stare down

‘I said to Ryan: “I’ve got this idea of avoiding Matt Smith and [even] avoiding eye contact.’

The actor explained that he thought there was ‘something in experimenting and saving that moment for then,’ adding: ‘I just wanted to keep that seperation, so that I never saw Matt and I only ever saw Daemon.’

Matt Smith and showrunner Ryan Condal were both on board with the plan so the first time the pair actually laid eyes on each other was when they finally came face to face and had a staring match in the season finale.

Daemon and Aemond are on opposite sides of the battle for the Iron Throne, but fans have still made it clear that they would love to see the pair interact again.

The way the story was left saw Daemon on Dragonstone with his wife, Rhaenyra Targaryen (played by Emma D’Arcy) and Aemond remaining in King’s Landing with the rest of his family.

House Of The Dragon is set nearly 200 years before the events of Game of Thrones, and 100 years after House Targaryen conquered all Seven Kingdoms of Westeros. 

The second season debuts Sunday, June 16 at 9 PM ET on HBO, and June 17 on Now TV and Sky Atlantic, with critics giving the season an impressive 91% on Rotten Tomatoes.

The first wave of reviews started coming in last week, with just two “rotten” reviews of the 22 that were posted.

Matt Smith’s character, Daemon Targaryen (pictured above), is Aemond’s uncle, and the pair built up a rivalry as the season progressed

Daemon and Aemond are on opposite sides of the battle for the Iron Throne, but fans have still made it clear that they would love to see the pair interact again

Those who have praised the show have done so for its gripping storytelling and monumental action that fans will see this season.

The first season set the stage for the drama to come, centering on two young women – Rhaenyra Targaryen (Milly Alcock) and her best friend Alicent Hightower (Emily Carey).

The season ended in quite the shocking manner – with the brutal death of one of Rhaenyra’s sons – which set the stage for the Civil War between the Targaryens and the Hightowers that would follow between what has been dubbed Alicent’s ‘Team Green’ and Rhaenyra’s ‘Team Black.’ 

While the first season practically exclusively focused on House Targaryen, Season 2 introduces characters in Winterfell – home to House Stark – and other ‘smallfolk’ who live under the rule of the House of the Dragon.