Paddy Considine on how his personal loss inspired the role of Viserys in House of The Dragon

In House of The Dragon, Paddy Considine’s portrayal of King Viserys Targaryen was nothing short of spectacular. The pain and emotion of the King on his deathbed were visible to anybody who watched the first season of the show. Fans were moved to tears by his performance, and it all stemmed from Considine’s personal loss.

What inspired Paddy Considine’s incredible performance in House of The Dragon?

Considine recently had a chat with Variety where he talked all about his experience filming the HBO epic. He said, “A lot of it was emotional stuff that I could relate to. I’ve got teenage daughters; I could relate to that aspect of it. I’ve lost people in my life that I love; I could relate to that. And then the main thing was to plot his physical demise. We actually started shooting Episode 7 first, and he’s very far down the line by that time. So we had to map out where I thought he was going to be. He’s suffering badly. He’s kind of rotting. He smells.”

Viserys gave Paddy Considine a sense of freedom

He went on to explain how Viserys gave him the ability to explore the character’s depth, “I learned a sense of freedom. There’s nowhere to hide on stage. Sometimes in characters, I’d hidden in them, instead of express them, if that makes sense. Some of my performances over the years were: “How beautifully restrained by Considine.” But I’d see someone who’s scared to do anything, to really jump the fences and dive in there. Viserys gave me the opportunity to do that. I saw all this conflict in him. I saw all this dignity. Those were really interesting things to play, to be a dignified man in that cutthroat world.”

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