Claire Foy Had Some Strong Opinions on Matt Smith in HotD: 'Disgusting'
Matt Smith's co-star from The Crown, Claire Foy, revealed that she found him difficult to watch on House of the Dragon.
Claire Foy portrayed Queen Elizabeth in Seasons 1 and 2 of Netflix 's The Crown. During her work on the show, Foy had the opportunity to work closely with her co-star Matt Smith, who played the queen's husband Prince Philip and become familiar with his acting style. However, it seems that Foy may not have been prepared for Smith's portrayal of a more shocking character than the Duke of Edinburgh in a different project.
Smith played a young Prince Philip as haughty, smug, and even sort of threatening. These features are what made him very similar to a more recent Smith character, Prince Daemon Targaryen. As a matter of fact, the showrunner of the HBO show Ryan Condal shared that Smith's performance as Prince Philip was one of the reasons he was eventually cast for the role of the rogue prince.
However, it goes without saying that Daemon's actions were much more alarming than Philip's. Thus, following his sometimes disturbing arc has become a challenging experience for Claire Foy.
"I've watched all of [Season 1]," she told Josh Horowitz during a Happy Sad Confused podcast discussion (via Daily Mail). "It took a huge amount of commitment, which waned towards the end."
Foy's reaction is quite natural. Though becoming an ultimate internet boyfriend, Prince Daemon Targaryen is a complicated character capable of some pretty ugly actions. In the very first episode, he randomly kills several peasants, and it's getting only crazier from there. Seducing his underage niece and cracking his ex-wife's skull with a stone in order to marry the niece and get closer to the Iron Throne. These are just two of Daemon's actions that are hard to watch and accept.
"I was a very committed friend [of his character] but I disagreed with him in many scenes," Claire Foy explained. "I then had to tell [Smith] that I found them disgusting to watch."
Though we may never know how the House of the Dragon star replied to Foy, her opinion is valid. Daemon's behavior may be pretty sickening at times. And the fact that fans enjoyed watching every second of it suggests that Matt Smith did a great job playing such a complex character. Doing everything Daemon did and still becoming a fan favorite without a doubt took enormous talent and hard work from the actor.