Paddy Considine and Matt Smith fought to keep the improvised throne room scene in House of The Dragon Episode 8

The eighth episode of Game of Thrones prequel House of The Dragon was special in many ways. Not only did it feature the last time jump of the series, with the kids all growing up right before the Dance of the Dragons, but it was also emotionally one of the strongest episodes. Fans and critics are in awe of Paddy Considine and Matt Smith’s performances in the throne room in King’s Landing, where Paddy’s King Viserys musters all his strength to walk to the Iron Throne, while his brother Daemon, played by Matt, helps him up on the throne as he struggles to catch his breath.

There is one moment in particular that has been admired by viewers for adding an extra layer of depth to the emotions flowing between the two brothers. On the steps to the Iron Throne, when Viserys gets exhausted and drops his crown, Daemon comes forward to help his brother, placing the crown on his head as he helps him sit on the throne. This tear-inducing performance was actually improvised, something that the fans hailed as the best scene of the entire episode.

Paddy Considine recently revealed in an interview with Dragoncast how they actually fought to keep the scene in the episode. He said, “That walk was all about his last walk. I had made my mind up on that day. You know you make a lot of decisions privately. And I think Viserys on that morning knows it is the last day of his life. I had this discussion with Geeta that it’s like dogs who go away to die alone, Viserys knows this is the last day. This is it. This is the last walk to sit on that poisoned seat.”

“So it had to be this sort of slow-painful walk, which I regretted later because I put my hip out, I had these walking sticks that kept breaking and snapping and things like that. But it was a poignant moment. As he goes to go up the stairs, in one of the takes the crown falls off my head. And Matt takes it up. We walk to the top of the stairs, I sit on the throne and Matt took it and placed it on my head.”

“But Geeta is able to see it and I said, “Geeta we need to keep that moment. It’s a great moment. And then him putting the crown on his brother’s head, we must keep that.” Me and Matt fought for the moment to be in there, we had a little discussion. And so, it stayed in.”

He continued, “After they said cut, I just ran down to Geeta and said, “That’s gotta stay. That bit has gotta stay. Because it wasn’t in the script. Listen, you just have to make sure, because, in some sets, that wouldn’t be used.” 

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Read next: “Your Viserys is better than my Viserys,” George R. R. Martin tells actor Paddy Considine from House of the Dragon