The first episode of House of the Dragon, HBO’s Game of Thrones prequel show, climaxes with the kind-hearted King Viserys I Targaryen (Paddy Considine) having to make a horrible choice: as his wife Aemma lies dying in childbirth, the maester says that they can either let her die, in which case the baby dies with her; or open her up, killing her but possibly giving the baby a chance at life. Viserys chooses the latter, leading to a horrific scene where he comforts his wife as the doctors of the day essentially murder her. And even after all of that, their baby boy dies.
Viserys ended up being a very sympathetic character, but that first moment had some fans thinking he was the villain of the piece. “I was sort of shocked in the first episode or so when people commented that they hated him,” Considine recently told Deadline. “I didn’t understand that. Why would you hate him?”
I don’t think that fans were used to a character like that in that world, a king who wasn’t corrupted by power or entitlement. I think it was difficult for people to place him because he wasn’t particularly archetypal and he wasn’t what they were expecting from what they’d read in the books, either.
Paddy Considine had “a bit of jealousy” he didn’t get to be in House of the Dragon season 2
Viserys dies before the end of the first season, so obviously Considine won’t be back for season 2, which is currently in production.
Considine wishes he’d gotten the chance to ride a dragon, but overall he’s at peace with this. “There’s none of that wondering what is going to happen in Season 2, you know?” he said. “There were some comments from people who felt that the show moved along too quickly. They wanted to live with the younger versions of Rhaenyra and Alicent, but for my character, I just think he would’ve gotten too dr awn out. He would’ve become quite a boring character to spread out over a season. So, I was quite grateful to die.”
Plus, before he went, Considine got the person endorsement of Fire & Blood author George R.R. Martin, who wrote the book the show is based on. “His words to me were you played Viserys better than he ever imagined. Your Viserys is better than my Viserys,” Considine recalled. “To get a nod from a creator like that, for him to say that he wants to go back and rewrite Viserys history, that’s really flattering. There was a bit of jealousy when Season 2 started filming and I wasn’t part of it anymore. But at least I made an impact.”
The second season of House of the Dragon is due out sometime next summer on HBO and Max.
