"House of the Dragon" star Matt Smith says he is not interested in defining Daemon Targaryen as either a villain or a hero and instead prefers to explore the darker edges of the character's personality.

Smith, the star of popular shows "Doctor Who" and "The Crown", returns as the the fiercely ambitious and volatile Targaryen prince in the third season of the "Game of Thrones" spin-off series, which started streaming on JioHotstar from Monday.

The British actor said his aim with the character has always been to push the character as far as possible and see whether he can find a way back.

"It's quite an odd thing, an audience should look and judge and label. But to do it inside of it and to go, 'Well, is he a villain? Is he not a villain? Is he a hero? Is he an anti-hero?'" Smith told PTI in a virtual group interview.

"My real main interest with him has been... let's get this character to be the worst version of himself. Push him as far as you can towards the precipice, the edge of the cliff, the things that you think are impossible for a character to come back from. So whether that makes him a villain, an anti-hero, I don't know. It's for other people to decipher. But I think that's where he's most interesting," he added.

Based on parts of "Fire & Blood" novel by celebrated author George R R Martin, "House of the Dragon" is set nearly 200 years before the events of "Game of Thrones", the blockbuster series which ran for eight seasons on HBO from 2011 to 2019.

The prequel show chronicles the rise and fall of House Targaryen and centres on a bitter succession struggle known as the Dance of the Dragons, a devastating civil war that pits rival factions of the ruling family against each other in a battle for the Iron Throne.

Smith's Daemon Targaryen, a skilled warrior and dragonrider known for his charisma, impulsiveness and ruthless streak, is one of the most unpredictable and compelling figures in the show.

He is younger brother of King Viserys I Targaryen and later the husband of Rhaenyra Targaryen, played by actor Emma D'Arcy.

Smith said he missed sharing the screen space with D'Arcy in the show's second season as their characters were based in different locations and had few scenes together.

"I was campaigning in season two to get back on the floor with Emma and with Daemon and Rhaenyra because, both from a character perspective, but also from an acting perspective and from a human perspective... my admiration knows no bounds really," he said.

"What's been really amazing over the last four or five years is seeing Emma approach the craft and the journey of that in just the most incredible detailed way. It's been something to behold," he said.

Smith also spoke about his love for fantasy storytelling.

The actor said he enjoys genres such as magical realism and horror as a viewer and believes large-scale fantasy productions offer audiences a welcome escape.

"What I do as a punter and as a consumer, I love in literature, I love magic realism. And the last couple of years of my life, I've got really into horror, like sort of consuming horror movies at every level as well. So when it's done on scale, when this type of thing is done well, I think it's a good way to transport an audience out of their everyday lives into somewhere interesting for a couple of hours," he said.

Season three of "House of the Dragon" also stars Steve Toussaint, Rhys Ifans, Fabien Frankel, Ewan Mitchell, Tom Glynn-Carney, Harry Collett, Bethany Antonia, Phoebe Campbell, James Norton, Tom Bennett, Freddie Fox, Clinton Liberty, Gayle Rankin, Abubakar Salim and Tom Cullen.

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