Paddy Considine

In a meta sense, the ineffectual king's presence has forced the 'Game of Thrones' prequel to dance around the Dance of the Dragons.

Whether in Westeros or in our world, those who seek power most ardently are often the least suited to wield it—and however else they may [differ](https://www.theringer.com/house-of-the-dragon/2022/10/2/23384087/house-of-the-dragon-episode-7-greens-blacks), the greens and the blacks seem unified in coveting the throne for less selfless and high-minded reasons than Viserys did. Pained, bedridden, and disregarded, he summons his resolve, refuses milk of the poppy, and regains his wits and enough of his strength to sit the throne one last time in defense of his daughter and heir. [dicey selection](https://www.theringer.com/house-of-the-dragon/2022/8/30/23326741/house-of-the-dragon-episode-2-breakdown) to begin with, and remarrying to produce spare heirs and strengthen the line only put her in a more precarious position. By the end, one wanted to look away from Viserys, because he made the [Crabfeeder](https://www.theringer.com/house-of-the-dragon/2022/9/5/23337832/house-of-the-dragon-episode-3-crabfeeder-killed)—his fellow Phantom-style mask mate—look like the picture of health. The Black Knight echoes Shakespeare’s mortally wounded Mercutio when he insists that the loss of an arm is “but a scratch.” Viserys echoes both characters when in Episode 1 he dismisses a growing sore on his back, telling Maester Mellos and Otto Hightower, “It’s a small cut from sitting the throne. [breakout Targaryen](https://www.theringer.com/house-of-the-dragon/2022/8/22/23315669/house-of-the-dragon-premiere-daemon-targaryen-matt-smith) of the early episodes. “My own face is no longer a handsome one, if indeed it ever was,” a skeletal, disfigured Viserys says in “The Lord of the Tides,” maintaining some semblance of his former good nature, dignity, and disarming, self-deprecating humor—even in extremis. His departure should bring relief—not just to him, from his suffering, but to us, from the jarring [time jumps](https://www.theringer.com/house-of-the-dragon/2022/9/4/23337203/house-of-the-dragon-episode-three-time-jumps) and drawn-out political posturing that precede open battle. Ned’s beheading was a [shocking](https://www.theringer.com/tv/2018/8/2/17636990/character-deaths-tv-rains-of-castamere), [pivotal](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gVXG7OOmVWU) moment both for the characters in George R.R. [ineffectual](https://www.theringer.com/house-of-the-dragon/2022/8/29/23326351/house-of-the-dragon-episode-2-targaryen-dragons), and often willfully oblivious to the internal tensions threatening to tear his house apart. Moreover, this passing is the opposite of shocking, to the court at King’s Landing and the TV audience alike; Viserys’s death is foreshadowed from the first episode, and the only surprise is that the declining king lasted as long as he did. [warned](https://getyarn.io/yarn-clip/20be572f-4406-4e7c-8009-63ef457fe2b7) would “haunt [his] family for a generation”—the execution of Eddard Stark.

Viserys actor Paddy Considine should win an Emmy for his last 'House of the Dragon' episode on HBO, Episode 8 "The Lord of the Tides."

Martin himself noted in his “NotaBlog”](https://georgerrmartin.com/notablog/2022/06/01/good-stuff-bad-stuff-strange-stuff/) that Considine “gives the character a tragic majesty that my book Viserys never quite achieved.” Indeed, Viserys is no longer the buoyantly buffonish king of Martin’s books. Over the course of eight episodes, Considine has transformed Viserys from a foolish man struggling to balance power and the personal into a tragic king trying to fix his calamitous rule for the sake of the people he so loves. Sure, Viserys looks fully like a zombie, but Considine’s monologue about wanting his family to see him as the man he really is forced you to look, unflinchingly, as Viserys bared his soul. He is a Shakespearean anti-hero, doomed to curse his family to ruin through his efforts to save them. His crown falls to the ground. [Paddy Considine](https://decider.com/tag/paddy-considine/) has ruled over [House of the Dragon](https://decider.com/show/house-of-the-dragon/) as King Viserys I since the [HBO](https://prf.hn/click/camref:1100lqHbQ/pubref:---/destination:https://www.hbomax.com/?offer_id=5&transaction_id=1020b725757ac9478de78f928b5f79&affiliate_id=1020&aff_click_id=&utm_source=NY+Post&utm_medium=affiliate&utm_id=27047578) show’s premiere, but last night’s episode was his chance to reign supreme. Viserys stubbornly refuses offers of aid from the Kingsguard only to almost collapse steps from the throne. Rhaenrya and Daemon discover Viserys is bandaged, bed-ridden, and wasting away on milk of the poppy. After the Sea Snake (Steve Touissant) takes a grievous injury in battle off-screen, his brother Vaemond (Wil Johnson) announces his intention to thwart Corlys’s plans to bequeath Driftmark and the Driftwood Throne to his younger grandson Lucerys Velaryon (Elliot Grihault). While Viserys has always been in ill health, the man who reunites with daughter Rhaenyra ( [Emma D’Arcy](https://decider.com/tag/emma-darcy/)) and brother Daemon ( [Matt Smith](https://decider.com/tag/matt-smith/)) is a living corpse. He slowly ambles to the Iron Throne, grunting in pain and limping with every step. Alicent and her politically powerful cronies in King’s Landing want to put her son Aegon (Tom Glynn-Carney) on the Iron Throne.

Actor previously called his father a 'violent bully'

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I'm sure somebody will show me a photograph,” he said, about his character's big moment on Sunday night. The actor discussed the inspiration and meaning for ...

The narrative I had in my mind was that he never really gets over Aemma, that he’s devastated for the rest of his life. What did you think of that moment, and what that prophesy amounts to, 200 years down the line? There was a scene that was deleted after Aemma (Sian Brooke) died, where Viserys meets with Daemon and he tries to hint at this idea of prophecies and what the gods mean to him. After this last moment in the throne room, do you wonder if Viserys made a mistake not giving the position of hand of the king to his brother [Daemon](https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/22/arts/television/matt-smith-house-of-the-dragon-prince-daemon.html) instead? But I kept that private; I never actually disclosed that in the end. He was trying to get some idea where Daemon’s at with his beliefs, but the tone of the scene was never quite right. Daemon helps him up there, and he puts the crown on his head, and that said everything that he’s never said, without uttering a word. I said to Miguel Sapochnik [an executive producer, and a showrunner for the first season], “This would be a good idea for where Viserys ends up.” So I had somewhere in my head that I could map where I was going to get to. “House of the Dragon” hews closer to Martin’s vision and adds a new twist — the cuts that Viserys ( I think he accepts it as part of the guilt of the decision he makes to put his wife through a From the minute of his wife’s funeral, I think Viserys starts to die. Until, that is, he skips the meds for one last visit to the royal court, to defend the rights of his daughter and named heir, Rhaenyra (Emma D’Arcy), and to attend a family supper, where he urges the relatives to set aside their grievances.

The actor plays King Viserys Targaryen in the prequel series, set 200 years before events in Game Of Thrones. The series is adapted from Martin's novel Fire & ...

[Emma D’Arcy and Olivia Cooke recently discussed how the characters of Rhaenyra and Alicent have evolved](https://www.nme.com/news/tv/house-of-the-dragon-stars-emma-darcy-and-olivia-cooke-tease-adult-rhaenyra-and-alicent-3315413) following the 10-year gap between episode five to six. Martin sent him a text praising his performance in spin-off [House Of The Dragon](https://www.nme.com/series/house-of-the-dragon). HBO Max is not currently available in the UK. I think the sense of duty is what got to him. Elsewhere in the interview, the actor defended the character from assertions made by some fans that he’s boring, adding: “There’s this perception that he’s weak, which I think is absolutely nonsense. The actor plays King Viserys Targaryen in the prequel series, set 200 years before events in Game Of Thrones.

Paddy Considine chats with Complex about the “best role he's ever had” as King Visery's reign comes to an end on this week's 'House of the Dragon.'

To play somebody that was not corrupted by power and to play someone with his virtues was the pleasure of the job. This sounds really a really silly comparison because I’m not head-to-toe this different kind of creature, but there is a bit of anxiety that creeps in every so often through the day that goes, “I just want this off my face, just get it off my face, just get it off my plate.” You’ve just got to sit with it and meditate it out of you. He’s the manifestation of everything that they fight for in this seat, the power that they want, whatever it is that they crave—this is what it does to you. To play that kind of character, in that kind of world, was an absolute joy. When I spoke with Milly, she mentioned how you recommended Amyl and the Sniffers to her. I used to love watching the images of Boris Karloff in the makeup chair and think, “One day, I’d love to do that.” And then you do it. It’s only just in the last few weeks got to a place where I feel like it’s back to where it should have been. So what I did was, on my days off, I’d just wear a tight wooly hat around the house and get used to having something tight on my head all the time, being the sensitive creature that I am. At the end of the day, you’ve got to play the human; you can’t play the costume. As an actor, if you’re given that playground, and you know that you have the allowance to do that by the powers that be, then it just makes the job so much more satisfactory.” It’s a strange thing the brain does; it starts to tell your body that you’re sick if you behave sickly. Despite his best efforts, his passing will do just that, sending the remaining heirs into a civil war amongst one another for control of the throne—thanks in part to a miscommunication about the Song of Ice and Fire prophecy on his deathbed.