Portraying a fearsome, dragon-riding warrior in House of the Dragon means Matt Smith needs to appear physically imposing – even beneath heavy armour. It’s proved a change of pace from the British actor’s previous roles, such as the Eleventh Doctor in Doctor Who and Prince Philip in The Crown, but one the 43-year-old has mastered over the show’s three seasons.
Not that proving his athletic capabilities has been easy. Filming the first season of House of the Dragon lasted 10 months, placing significant demands on his fitness simply to cope with the schedule.
‘There’s a lot of stunts involved, and that was challenging over quite a long period,’ Smith told The Hollywood Reporter. ‘It’s a big 10-month shoot. So physically, it was really draining.’
While he’s familiar with the gym, a large part of Smith’s preparation actually involved learning how to ride a dragon. A simulator nicknamed ‘the buck’ was built at Warner Bros. Studios Leavesden to mimic the movement of a dragon. Smith found it ‘good fun’, even if it was hard work.
‘You’re on a remote control, and someone’s there moving it around, and then they fire a load of wind and rain at you,’ he told Variety.
Fitness has become a more important part of Smith’s life as he’s gotten older. After playing a lot of football as a kid, he neglected that side of his life when acting started to take over. It wasn’t until his 30s that he realised how important going to the gym was for him – not just physically, but mentally too.
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‘Since I’ve been back in London, I’ve been going to the gym three times a week. It makes me feel much better about my life, I have to say. It’s just good for my mind,’ he said.
He’s become more conscious about his nutrition, too.
‘I’m just looking after myself a bit more, that’s all. I was in terrible shape,’ he told GQ. ‘Still love a beer every now and then. Although I’m doing that terrible thing of counting calories. Do you know how many calories, for example, there are in a pint of beer? It’s like eating a slice of white bread with icing on top. Yeast and sugar. Delicious. Oysters are pretty devastating too. Shame, really. Still, rules are there to be broken, right?’
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Ryan is a Senior Writer at Men’s Health UK with a passion for storytelling, health and fitness. Having graduated from Cardiff University in 2020, and later obtaining his NCTJ qualification, Ryan started his career as a Trainee News Writer for sports titles Golf Monthly, Cycling Weekly and Rugby World before progressing to Staff Writer and subsequently Senior Writer with football magazine FourFourTwo.
During his two-and-a-half years there he wrote news stories for the website and features for the magazine, while he also interviewed names such as Les Ferdinand, Ally McCoist, Jamie Redknapp and Antonio Rudiger, among many others. His standout memory, though, came when getting the opportunity to speak to then-Plymouth Argyle manager Steven Schumacher as the club won League One in 2023.
Having grown up a keen footballer and playing for his boyhood side until the age of 16, Ryan got the opportunity to represent Northern Ireland national futsal team eight times, scoring three goals against England, Scotland and Gibraltar. Now past his peak, Ryan prefers to mix weightlifting with running – he achieved a marathon PB of 3:31:49 at Manchester in April 2025, but credits the heat for failing to get below the coveted 3:30 mark…
You can follow Ryan on Instagram @ryan.dabbs or on X @ryandabbs_
