Paddy Considine

The British actor has starred in the Game of Thrones spin-off series as Targaryen family patriarch and king Viserys Targaryen. *Major spoilers for House of the ...

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Actor previously called his father a 'violent bully'

[Terms of use,](https://www.independent.co.uk/service/user-policies-a6184151.html) [Cookie policy](https://www.independent.co.uk/service/cookie-policy-a6184186.html) and [Privacy notice.](https://www.independent.co.uk/service/privacy-policy-a6184181.html) “But you know, I have fantastic memories with him.” [Privacy policy](https://policies.google.com/privacy?hl=en) and [Terms of service](https://policies.google.com/terms?hl=en) apply. “He must have been fighting,” Considine said. “I thought it was an inevitability. [here](https://www.nhs.uk/live-well/alcohol-support/?tabname=advice-and-support) for information about the programmes available to you. Considine added that “there was a lot of fondness and humour” and that he had “a lot of love for my dad”. [Sign up](https://amzn.to/3wUCpW9) [GQ Hype](https://www.gq-magazine.co.uk/culture/article/paddy-considine-house-of-the-dragon-interview), that actor said that his childhood was “too chaotic for a kid like me”. [Annabel Nugent](/author/annabel-nugent) Comments [Paddy Considine](/topic/paddy-considine) has reflected on his “chaotic” childhood and the nuanced relationship he had with his father.

Paddy Considine's role as Viserys I Targaryen is one marked by remarkable greatness and the fans now consider him worthy of Emmy nomination.

It’s why he’s probably the best king I’ve ever seen on screen. [October 10, 2022] After an extenuating turn of events with House of the Dragon episode 8 titled The Lord of the Tides, it has become more clear than ever that the series’s reigning patriarch, Paddy Considine deserves an Emmy for his tour de force performance. Paddy Considine’s manifestation of this unremarkable and uneventful presence on the Iron Throne makes Viserys I Targaryen a worthy leader. The reigning monarch grants his subjects that luxury — a clever, if not necessary, step at keeping the mob from getting restless. With no great wars or battle of succession to mark his ascension, his seat at the Iron Throne was instead secured by a simple declaration from his predecessor.

King Viserys' swan song will down in history as one of the finest episode of 'House of the Dragon' yet.

Fans of the series rallied for [Paddy Considine](https://www.thedailybeast.com/obsessed/the-horrible-house-of-the-dragon-wigs-need-an-intervention) all over Twitter last night, celebrating his tour-de-force performance in one of the series' most consequential episodes to date. There was a discovery there of this moment.” Viserys made a triumphant return to the throne room, declaring that the succession line had been settled. There was one scene in particular that viewers latched onto, though, and it took place right before the final family feast. Viserys holds one final family-style dinner around the grand table before he passes, offering a few toasts to settle everything before he’ll be buried six feet under. My apologies go out to the

'House of the Dragon' Star Paddy Considine on King Viserys' Heartbreaking Episode 8 ... The actor discusses his character's fate, his biggest mistake and the " ...

“I think he neglected to be a good father to his second family,” he says. “I’m playing a gig on Thursday, so I’m practicing some chords,” he explained. “He just doesn’t love them the way he loves Rhaenyra. “What happens beyond this is total mayhem,” he said. “The only mistake he made was becoming king,” he said. “It’s like everything Viserys worked hard to prevent happening, happens. “Viserys doesn’t hate his children,” the actor added. I’m going to fly some dragons and have a good time with the ladies in nefarious places of town.'” “He should have said, ‘No, give it to Rhaenys. In episode eight, Viserys became a Gothic spectral figure of death, with half his face hid by bandages or a gold mask, as he desperately tried to convince his feuding family to set aside their differences and prevent a civil war. It’s a portrayal that also seems likely to generate Emmy buzz. He basically gets a form of leprosy that creeps into body, his bones start to fail him.

In a previously unpublished interview with Paddy Considine, the 'House of the Dragon' actor said King Viserys I Targaryen should never have taken the Iron ...

"Viserys doesn't hate his children," he told the outlet of Aegon II and Aemond (Ewan Mitchell). "It's like everything Viserys worked hard to prevent happening, happens," he said. [House of the Dragon](https://people.com/tv/house-of-the-dragon-game-of-thrones-prequel-series-reviews/) star [Paddy Considine](https://people.com/tv/house-of-the-dragon-star-paddy-considine-says-filming-first-episodes-birth-scene-was-brutal/) thinks King Viserys I Targaryen made a fatal mistake. Because Rhaenyra's mom Aemma [Sian Brooke] is the love of King Viserys' life." I'm going to fly some dragons and have a good time with the ladies in nefarious places of town.' " That's his big regret," Considine added. "The only mistake he made was becoming king," Considine told THR. "He should have said, 'No, give it to Rhaenys. [Entertainment Weekly](https://ew.com/tv/house-of-the-dragon-king-viserys-episode-8-ending/) on Sunday, audience witness Viserys' death in the waning moments of episode 8. He's just trying to do good," he added. "And it's a metaphor for what power does to people, even though he doesn't use it for his own personal gain. But the demands of being a king take their toll on the physical body.

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.

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.

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.

'I thought: that'll do it. Thanks for trusting me,' actor recalled.

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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 & ...

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. “He was the only person in this kingdom who had any fucking morals whatsoever. He believed in duty above everything. The actor plays King Viserys Targaryen in the prequel series, set 200 years before events in Game Of Thrones.

While Daemon Targaryen spent the past couple episodes of House of the Dragon looking Paul Rudd levels of ageless, his brother King Viserys was quite literally ...

"I love him so much," he said.. So I think this is the end." [The New York Times](https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/10/arts/television/house-of-the-dragon-paddy-considine.html) if he'd seen his final episode, and simply said "No, I haven’t, and I’m not sure if I ever will." "I haven’t seen anything beyond episode 2, really," he explained. If he didn't, I won't know what to believe anymore! [Daemon Targaryen](https://www.cosmopolitan.com/entertainment/tv/a41093912/rhaenyra-daemon-spoilers-house-of-the-dragon/) spent the past couple episodes of [House of the Dragon](https://www.cosmopolitan.com/entertainment/tv/a41020096/house-of-the-dragon-hbo-season-2-date-cast-episodes/) looking Paul Rudd levels of ageless, his brother [King Viserys](https://www.cosmopolitan.com/entertainment/tv/a40994040/will-viserys-die-house-of-the-dragon-got-prequel/) was quite literally falling apart.

House of the Dragon star Paddy Considine talks about the end of King Viserys Targaryen's journey. We will never see his like again.

Westeros is on the verge of all-out war for the throne. House of the Dragon continues Sundays on HBO and HBO Max. Martin sketches out Viserys in Fire & Blood, but Considine and the House of the Dragon writers definitely added more layers. [Get HBO, Starz, Showtime and MORE for FREE with a no-risk, 7-day free trial of Amazon Channels](https://www.amazon.com/b/?rh=i:instant-video,n:2858778011&ie=UTF8&filterId=OFFER_FILTER=SUBSCRIPTIONS&node=2858778011&ref_=assoc_tag_ph_1465430649312&_encoding=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&linkCode=pf4&tag=fs-livedrops1-20&linkId=90b2815fb79ba0e403137c68e139db16%E2%80%9D) He definitely did the character justice. Unlike Joffrey, Cersei, Aerys II, and many of the other rulers who have sat the Iron Throne, he wasn’t corrupted by his office: With Viserys out of the picture, the power struggle begins. He asks them to see him as a father or brother, not as a king. If he was a tyrant? What he said was possibly the best thing an actor can hear: Considine’s portrayal of Viserys is masterful. As the Starks say: the pack survives.

The actor shares how he developed the beloved character and what he was thinking in those final moments of Sunday's show.

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." So I think this is the end." But I kept that private; I never actually disclosed that in the end," he continues. I always had an idea in my head, whether it was useful to the story or not, that the last thing Viserys sees before he dies is the person who comes to collect him from this mortal life. I think he accepts it as part of the guilt of the decision he makes to put his wife through a terrible, horrible procedure. He emerges from a medically-induced, bed-ridden haze to make one final push to protect daughter Princess Rhaenyra (Emma D'Arcy) and her children, wearing a Phantom of the Opera-type gilded mask on one side of his face as he ascended the Iron Throne for the last time. But I would struggle with that," the actor admits. "No, I haven’t, and I’m not sure if I ever will," the actor responds. "Nowhere in the story does Viserys ask the maesters to cure him, to stop this thing from eating him alive. When they offer suggestions to cure him, he doesn’t bother with it. In his final days, the peaceful king's body was emaciated, his eye missing, and a large chunk of flesh torn from his cheek by his disease. The 49-year-old English actor will not, however, be actually looking back at his performance on-screen.

Even though he's left quite a mess among his family, Considine is really happy with how Viserys' journey went, as is George R.R. Martin.

“He holds everything together as long as he absolutely can,” He really did hold out until [the last minute there](https://uproxx.com/tv/who-is-prince-that-was-promised-house-of-the-drafgon/). [severely ill patriarch](https://uproxx.com/tv/house-of-the-dragon-viserys-sad-sad-sad-king/), and fans said goodbye to Considine’s portrayal of the king. [opened up to GQ](https://www.gq-magazine.co.uk/culture/article/paddy-considine-house-of-the-dragon-interview) about his role as Viserys which he described as a “joy” to play. Even though he’s left quite a mess [among his family](https://uproxx.com/tv/house-of-the-dragon-song-of-ice-and-fire-prophecy/), Considine is really happy with how Viserys’ journey went… [his body was essentially decaying](https://uproxx.com/tv/what-is-killing-viserys-house-of-the-dragon/) throughout the first seven episodes of House of the Dragon, Paddy Considine’s portrayal of King Viserys was spot-on. Thanks for trusting me.” Coming from someone who is genuinely