Paddy Considine “burst into tears” when he watched Viserys Targaryen die

Despite whatever certain communities of critics might think, Paddy Considine gave an award-worthy performance as King Viserys I Targaryen during the first season of House of the Dragon. Over the course of 10 episodes, he got to take the doomed monarch from the full bloom of health to a withered, dying man trying (and failing) to ensure that his legacy wasn’t one of strife, fire and blood. It was a masterful performance.

The highlight came in Episode 8, “The Lord of the Tides,” when Viserys is at death’s door. To this day, Paddy Considine hasn’t watched most of the episode, but the little he did see reduced him to tears, as he shared on the The Adam Buxton Podcast. “I didn’t watch episode eight but my wife had watched it, and my daughter, and they were pretty upset with it,” Considine said. “My wife said, ‘Just watch the end.'”

"Years ago, I’d watched my dad die of cancer and he just went downhill rapidly from being diagnosed to being on death’s door. You know, he became skeletal so rapidly. So, when [my wife] showed me that end thing and my face came up I just burst into tears because I looked the image of my dad when he was dying, the image of him, and it was shocking. It was really, really shocking to me. I’d put so much of my mum’s characteristics into this character, Viserys, but when I saw that I thought ‘That’s my dad’ and it was terrifying."

The final scene is of Viserys lying in bed, breathing his last breath and saying his last words. As Considine said, “it was pretty impactful stuff,” and that’s just for us watching at home.

Paddy Considine thinks King Viserys is “the greatest character I’ve ever played”

Considine has had a long career in the movies and on TV. In cases like that, sometimes I expect actors to treat the next role like any other job, one gig in a long line of them. But Considine seems to have really poured himself into Viserys, and he’s proud of the work he did. “The King Viserys character in House of the Dragon, I think that’s probably the greatest character I’ve ever played in my eyes,” Considine said. “The story was right. The character was right.” Hard to disagree.

Obviously King Viserys won’t return in future seasons of House of the Dragon, unless they pull out a flashback or something on us. Either way, I expect his shadow to loom over the rest of the series, which will return for a second season sometime in 2024.

To stay up to date on everything fantasy, science fiction, and WiC, follow our all-encompassing Facebook page and sign up for our exclusive newsletter.

Get HBO, Starz, Showtime and MORE for FREE with a no-risk, 7-day free trial of Amazon Channels