Paddy Considine: Viserys was “the best character I’ve ever played in my life”

It has been over a month since HBO aired the House of the Dragon season 1 finale, and we have a long way to go until we get a look at season 2. In the meantime, we’re still pouring over some of the fascinating new characters the show introduced, including Paddy Considine as King Viserys I Targaryen. Series creator George R.R. Martin even said that Considine’s version of Viserys was so much better than the one he wrote in Fire & Blood that he was tempted to go rewrite things.

Speaking with Complex, Considine talks about Viserys and how House of the Dragon changed his career. “I just felt like I was given this character, and it was my job to imbue him with as much humanity as I possibly could,” he explained. “The job was to get beyond the dialogue and get to what the scenes were about. I never played the world of Game of Thrones. I never felt that I played that role. I saw a really human story, a tragic story, and the love story about a man who, very early on, loses the love of his life and never recovers from it. He carries the guilt of that through his entire life, right to his dying breath until he’s reunited.”

The death of Viserys’ wife Aemma happens in the first episode of the series, and from that point on, Viserys effectively lives in his grief and regret. He wanted to have a son so badly that he was willing to put his wife’s life on the line by trying to have another child after several miscarriages and stillborn births. The pain of this loss haunts him, and he tries to make it right by supporting his daughter Rhaenyra and naming her his heir.

“I think the minute they burn Aemma’s body at her funeral pyre, that man starts to die anyway,” Considine said. “That’s what I’ve played; I was playing this tragedy for a love that was not existent on-screen anymore. That’s what Viserys saw every time he looks at Rhaenyra. That’s why he couldn’t chastise, that’s why he couldn’t go fully in on her because all he ever saw was Aemma. She was the last remaining piece of Aemma. I was just playing this tragic character.”

As Viserys’ spirit slips away, so does his body decay. He is afflicted with a leprosy-like disease that results in him losing an eye, his fingers and eventually his life. And as the conflict between the factions in his family worsens, so does his condition, culminating in the decrepit shell of a man we see in Episode 8.

Viserys Targaryen knew Rhaenrya’s sons were bastards

Despite his condition, Viserys does everything he can to preserve his daughter Rhaenyra’s claim to the Iron Throne. When Vaemond Velaryon and the greens try to undermine Rhaenyra’s son Lucerys in his bid to inherit Driftmark, Viserys gathers his strength in one final act of love for Rhaenyra (and Aemma). Instead of admitting that Rhaenyra’s children are illegitimate, which he must know, he doubles down and proclaims Lucerys the heir to Driftmark.

“He knows the truth about this. He’d do anything to protect Rhaenyra. Otherwise, it makes him look kind of silly, and he’s not. He knows full well. He’s not an idiot. He’s living in ignorance. He warns Alicent not to speak of it, to leave it, and not speak because it’s dangerous and it’s treasonous.”

Even for all of his efforts, Viserys can’t hold his family together in the long run. Just when the conflict seemed to be put to rest, Viserys inadvertently tells Alicent about Aegon the Conqueror’s prophecy. She misinterprets his words and thinks that he wants her son Aegon on the Iron Throne instead of Rhaenyra. Viserys’ final moments are emblematic of his life: he acts out of love for his family, but can’t overcome the forces beyond his control.

This tragedy is what made Viserys so compelling, and seemingly why Considine enjoyed playing him so much. “He’s the best character I’ve ever played in my life,” the actor said. “I was able to bring so many elements to him. To play that kind of character, in that kind of world, was an absolute joy. To play somebody that was not corrupted by power and to play someone with his virtues was the pleasure of the job. To me, he’s the most fully fleshed out character I’ve ever had the privilege to play. He’s got so many dimensions.”

It will be a bummer not seeing Viserys on screen again, but his legacy is cemented thanks to Considine’s masterclass performance.

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