Matt Smith Reveals How The Doctor Would Act If He Ended Up In House Of The Dragon, And It's Hilariously On-Brand

From left to right: Matt Smith as Daemon Targaryen looking intimidating in House of the Dragon and Matt Smith as the Eleventh Doctor smiling in Doctor Who.
(Image credit: HBO and BBC)

When you look at Matt Smith’s best-known characters, The Doctor and Daemon Targaryen lie at the top of that list but are also at polar opposite ends of his range. The leading-time lord on Doctor Who is one of the nicest and just characters out there, and the actor’s House of the Dragon character is quite literally vile and villainous. With that in mind, the actor behind both these men was asked how his time-traveling character would act if he traveled to Westeros, and he had the most on-brand answer. 

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:

I definitely think he'd get himself on a dragon at some point. I think he'd probably, I mean, he might even get one back in the TARDIS. I don't know, I think the Doctor might whip them all into shape, to be honest. I'd quite like to see the Doctor sort Daemon Targaryen out. Who knows? But, you know, The Doctor would come in and create his own sense of chaos, I have no doubt.

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.

Riley Utley
Weekend Editor

Riley Utley is the Weekend Editor at CinemaBlend. She has written for national publications as well as daily and alt-weekly newspapers in Spokane, Washington, Syracuse, New York and Charleston, South Carolina. She graduated with her master’s degree in arts journalism and communications from the Newhouse School at Syracuse University. Since joining the CB team she has covered numerous TV shows and movies -- including her personal favorite shows Ted Lasso and The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel. She also has followed and consistently written about everything from Taylor Swift to Fire Country, and she's enjoyed every second of it.