Paddy Considine (Viserys) reveals the birthing scene was “a lot more brutal” on set than it looked in House of The Dragon

There have been several memorable death scenes on Game of Thrones, a lot of them were brutal and visceral. And it seems the deaths have already begun to take place in the prequel House of The Dragon, in the first episode itself. The birthing sequence of Queen Aemma Arryn where she dies along with her newborn baby after a poorly administered C-section has been described by fans as the most difficult scene to watch in episode 1. And actor Paddy Considine, who plays King Viserys in the show, says the scene was even more gut-wrenching than it looked on the screen.

Considine told Insider, “Those were hard days filming. It was tough to shoot. It’s all make-believe, but it was tough. It was very emotional.” 

“In fact, it was a lot more brutal and a lot more emotional than it ends up in the final episode. And I wasn’t sure about that when I first saw it.”

He continued, “Maybe it was too much because Viserys is utterly devastated, and maybe that was too much to show early on. I think they really cut it down really well.”

Considine went on to praise actress Sian Brooke, who even during her short stint as Queen Aemma Arryn, left a deep impact on the show. He said, “We went for it, and there’s a lot of tears. But props to Sian because she was going through the physicality of everything. It was a very physical bit of work from her. The scene hangs over this show for a very, very long time.”

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