Matt Smith says the younger cast on 'House of the Dragon' are going to 'emerge as stars'

• Matt Smith is one of the most famous actors in HBO's "House of the Dragon."
• He starred in "Doctor Who" and "The Crown" and many other major projects during his career.

Matt Smith, 39, is one of the most well-known stars of HBO's new "House of the Dragon" series. His television career has included megahits like "Doctor Who" and "The Crown," while many of his new costars are younger actors who seem poised for a big break.

"A lot of the young actors in it are going to emerge as stars I think," Smith said during a roundtable press interview with Insider, Popsugar, and Metacritic ahead of the series premiere of "House of the Dragon."

In particular, Smith's character Daemon Targaryen has shared several major scenes with Milly Alcock — the 22-year-old Australian who stars as the younger version of Rhaenyra Targaryen (Daemon's niece).

Both Alcock and Emily Carey (who plays the young version of Alicent Hightower) play teenagers opposite the older actors like Smith. "Game of Thrones" had a similar dynamic, with Sean Bean starring as Ned Stark opposite many younger actors who got a major break from the HBO series.

Kit Harington and Emilia Clarke were both in their early 20s when "Game of Thrones" started, and others, like Sophie Turner and Maisie Williams, were even younger.

Smith said filming "House of the Dragon" involved long shoots, and there was plenty of opportunity for joking around with costars like Fabien Frankel (the 28-year-old actor who plays Ser Criston Cole).

"But I'll say that the cast got together and there was a great sense of camaraderie," he said. "We laughed our asses off because you have to — even if it was just laughing at Fabian trying to sit down in the armor. That gave me such joy every day. Poor Fabian. Bless him. He was in the armor the whole time and that's not easy, but there were some wonderful big characters on that set."

Smith concluded by saying there were "wonderful performances" that came out of those long days, especially from his costars like Alcock.

New episodes of "House of the Dragon" air Sundays on HBO at 9 p.m. ET. For more on the new series, read our breakdown here of the best details you might have missed in the latest episode.