House of the Dragon star Paddy Considine admitted to bursting into tears when confronted with Viserys' fate in the last episode of the show’s first season. The star revealed the details and their family’s reaction.
Debuting more than 3 years after the main Game of Thrones series concluded, House of the Dragon served as a prequel to that award-winning series set two centuries before the events of Game of Thrones' first season. House of the Dragon takes its plot from Martin's 2018 novel Fire and Blood, which chronicles the succession war known as the Dance of the Dragons, a pivotal event that would start the Targaryens' downfall. While House of the Dragon deviated from the source material in many ways, it was a resounding success.
In an appearance on The Adam Buxton Podcast, House of the Dragon leading man Considine opened up about his life experiences and how they affected his perception of the show’s critically acclaimed season finale. Considine's performance was stellar, with writer Martin insisting that Considine's portrayal of Viserys improved upon the book version. Setting the scene for the podcast host and audience, Considine said, "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.”
“When [my wife] showed me that end thing and my face came up I just burst into tears because I looked at 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," Considine continued. "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' ailment was deeply moving to audiences and the cast, relying heavily on prosthetics to create the unsettling effect.
While the finale has touched Considine deeply, it had a similarly strong effect on the audience, going a long way to grant the show its stellar outlook for a second season. While several other Game of Thrones projects have been cut due to HBO Max changes, House of the Dragon will be safe from this fate.
House of the Dragon season 1 is available on HBO Max.
Source: The Adam Buxton Podcast (via Collider)