King Viserys Targaryen is responsible for the stability of Westeros. One mistake of yours could be fatal. Paddy Considine, the actor who plays him, talks about the character.
The first half of House of the Dragon has made something clear to us: the peace of Westeros hangs in the balance. That thread is called Viserys, played by Paddy Considine. He heir to the “peaceful king” and who knows that the strength of the kingdom can only be threatened by a Targaryen. Whether it be his daughter Crown Princess Rhaenyra, his first son Aegon or his own brother Daemon.
Do not stop reading: House of The Dragon: the mistakes Viserys made in the first two chapters
Paddy Considine, the actor who brings him to life, is very clear about the role of the character: “Viserys is the King of Westeros. But a very different kind of king, as he is a peaceful ruler. He has received this legacy: the king who preceded him, Jaehaerys, was a peaceful king. Viserys feels that it is his duty to keep the peace in the realms and not create wars or anything like that. So that’s his mission. But he takes its toll on him: trying to be king in that kingdom is not an easy job.”
This king, “has to be a great diplomat and has to be likeable. It doesn’t sound like the most exciting thing, but when you’re a ruler, people want you to behave the way they want. They want you to act and react to better their cause. So, in that sense, he has to be a diplomat.”
House of the Dragon, the prequel that “inherited” Game of Thrones
Before meeting its fascinating characters, without a doubt the main attraction of House of the Dragon was that it was a spin-off of Game of Thrones. That same attraction that we have felt with his audience was what led Paddy Considine to accept the role of Viserys.
This was how the actor himself defined it: “To begin with, I really liked Game of Thrones. I thought it was great; as television it was a real spectacle, quite impressive. And I think I’ve been waiting for a role like King Viserys for many years. I wanted something that was a different challenge. He had just done a play in the West End and on Broadway [The Ferryman] and I felt like I had grown into that role. I wanted to apply it to a different character.”
“I never went to school to learn acting or anything like that, and I felt like a bit of an impostor in a lot of ways. I would say that I have very naturalistic qualities in some ways as an actor, but I thought there was something missing in my acting. So doing a play gave me discipline, it taught me a little bit more about how to be an actor, because I was scared of certain roles, and it helped me deal with that. When House of the Dragon came along, I was really ready to play a role of this magnitude.”
Building Viserys
Following on from the idea above, Paddy Considine reflects on how he built his popular character, which he certainly did very well: “I was relieved when I got the scripts and read Viserys. I thought there was a character there, there were scenes and there was something to do. This guy is complex and tragic with a lot of different nuances. So I was kind of flattered that they came to me and had faith in me to bring this guy to life. We did the reading at the beginning and one of Miguel’s observations [Sapochnik, co-showrunners de la serie] was: ‘We have to bring more Paddy’. I thought: ‘Thank you, because by saying that you have opened doors for me and given me license to come in and play.’ So I was able to give him a lot more qualities that weren’t on the page.”
“You could move and live there if you wanted”
Having established the character of Viserys, Paddy Considine spoke to us about what it means to be part of a production of this magnitude:
“It was a pleasure to go on set and see the magnitude of everything. The Red Keep was a huge set; you could literally move in and live there if you wanted to. It was incredible, I had never seen anything on that scale. And the Throne Room… the first time I saw the Iron Throne and sat on it there was a bit of a stir. It is the Iron Throne in the Throne Room.”
“But in the end, all of that fades away a little bit, and that’s another good thing about scripts, because ultimately it’s a very human drama about a family. So you can’t play with all those elements; all you can do is stay true to the story. Even with all that magnitude, it all comes down to the characters in the drama. But there are times when you look around and say, ‘Shit, I’ve never seen anything like it in my life.
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