Matt Smith's Mom Getting Harassed Over His HoTD Character
Some people seem to be getting too close to the show.
Fans can get overly emotional about their favorite show and its characters. Some people are frustrated with storylines; others take issue with the character development or the message. Regarding the latter, it can cross the line sometimes.
In the House of the Dragon finale, Matt Smith 's character Daemon Targaryen at some point chokes his wife for a couple of seconds — a moment that creeped out a lot of fans and raised many eyebrows.
But some people decided to drag into this a person who is hardly responsible for any storytelling choices made by the HoTD showrunners... Smith's mother, Lynne.
"[...] Dear mother of Matt Smith. I wonder how your son feels about playing an abuser of women on TV now? Did he think it was justified that he never apologised to his wife after choking her? Not a good message to send to young viewers," said a now-deleted tweet by the account @ubydarkcastle that appears to be heavily anti-team Black and anti-Daemon.
Another tweet that remains posted as of November 4 tagged Lynne Smith once again, with the same Twitter user calling Matt "a talentless hack who supports the abuse of women".
The House of the Dragon fandom quickly got outraged at the account that targeted the mother of an actor for something that her son's character did in a TV show.
"Her son is an ACTOR playing a CHARACTER who has abused women. Daemon = abuser. Matt Smith = perfectly lovely guy. Please stop attacking real people because you dislike characters in a show. Going after his mother is a different level of messed up. Please get help," Twitter user MelikaJ93 urged.
Other people joked about how Smith's other characters might get chastised now.
"Are they going to criticise him for things Doctor Who did next?" one fan on Reddit wondered.
"The way he talks about Daleks is unacceptable, Daleks have feelings too. Matt Smith should be ashamed of portraying such a speciesist Doctor," another one joked.
Daemon Targaryen has hardly left anyone indifferent — people either love him and proclaim him a new "Internet boyfriend", or lambast him as an example of a character who propagates abuse and violence. House of the Dragon showrunners have described Daemon, as well as the rest of the show's characters, "morally gray", implying that no one in the Game of Thrones prequel can actually be labeled good or bad.
The first season of the show is available for streaming on HBO Max. Shooting for season 2 is expected to begin in early 2023, with the premiere date to be announced later.