Fire and Blood,George R.R.
“He’s a nasty character.
But he became greedy and demanded high tolls from ships in exchange for safe passage.
‘House of the Dragon’ actor Daniel Scott-Smith dishes on the Crabfeeder.HBO; Simon Annand
Sometimes those tolls included human trafficking.
Scott-Smith confirms some of the newer aspects to Craghas as seen inHouse of the Dragon.
Through discussions with Greg Yaitanes, the director on episodes 2 and 3, they began unpacking the character.
Craghas ‘Crabfeeder’ Drahar (Daniel Scott-Smith) as seen in ‘House of the Dragon’.HBO
“We wanted to remember that there’s two sides to him.
Then they layered the visual of psoriasis on top of it.
“We wanted the idea of the hammer turning him into more of a beastly character.”
Not even the fires of Caraxes can defeat Craghas on the beaches of the Stepstones.HBO
The mask was another big part to the character.
That was another aspect he discussed with Yaitanes after landing the role.
He recognized it from watching the original series.
How does he feel about that?
It’s a power statement, so he’s quite happy wearing it.”
A lot of this character work may not come straight through for any casual viewer ofHouse of the Dragon.
Daemon’s slaying of Craghas occurs in the Stepstones' caves off camera.)
Craghas doesn’t speak either, nor does he ever remove his mask.
Scott-Smith didn’t know what role he was auditioning for in 2021.
The audition was dialogue-less.
“It was all very physical,” he recalls.
“They wanted to see how I would physically embrace the character.
But they were asking me about the hammering, how I’d physicalize that.
They wanted to see the animalistic qualities with how I would eat something.
So it was lots of little bits.”
He jokes, “I can’t imagine Crabfeeder particularly cares about dinner etiquette.”
“It was cool, though.”
House of the Dragonairs Sunday nights on HBO and HBO Max.
