Screenrant
Paddy Considine shares the tragic, real-life parallel that made Viserys’ deterioration in House of the Dragon such an emotional experience.
House of the Dragon star Paddy Considine reflects on the real-life experiences that made King Viserys' health deterioration particularly emotional. Serving as a prequel to HBO's wildly successful Game of Thrones, the network's latest fantasy series chronicles the onset of the Targaryen civil war, nearly 200 years before the birth of Danaerys (Emilia Clarke). Considine's Viserys, the King of Westeros, spends much of House of the Dragon season 1 attempting to keep the peace between his various family members until he eventually succumbs to his illness in episode 8, which triggers the onset of new tensions.
While Viserys' diseased appearance in House of the Dragon was difficult for many fans to watch, particularly during the character's last episode, Considine reveals in a recent appearance on The Adam Buxton Podcast (via Collider) that a tragic real-world parallel made the experience especially emotional for him.
Considine explains that even briefly seeing Viserys' skeletal appearance at the end of the episode was enough to bring on powerful memories of his father's battle with cancer. Read Considine's full comment below:
"I didn’t watch episode eight, but my wife had watched it, and my daughter, and they were pretty upset with it. My wife said, 'Just watch the end.' Years ago, I’d watched my dad die of cancer and he just went downhill rapidly from being diagnosed to being on death's door. You know, he became skeletal so rapidly. So, when [my wife] showed me that end thing and my face came up I just burst into tears because I looked the image of my dad when he was dying, the image of him, and it was shocking. It was really, really shocking to me. I’d put so much of my mum’s characteristics into this character, Viserys, but when I saw that I thought 'That’s my dad' and it was terrifying. So, it was pretty impactful stuff. The King Viserys character in House of the Dragon, I think that’s probably the greatest character I’ve ever played in my eyes. The story was right. The character was right."
Viserys' reign, in some ways, is defined by failure. He spent much of his energy as king resolving petty squabbles between his various family members, including Rhaenyra (Emma D'Arcy) and Alicent (Olivia Cooke), as they get older. In House of the Dragon episode 8, however, while on his deathbed, Viserys inadvertently kicks off an even greater conflict between the two when he shares the Song of Ice and Fire with Alicent, believing her to be Rhaenyra. The remaining two episodes of the show see the conflict escalate to extreme levels, with the final moments of the finale cementing that the two former friends are destined for war.
