This interview contains spoilers Sunday episode “House of the Dragon”.
The Iron Throne can be a cruel and uncomfortable seat. In the world of George R.R. Martin’s books, they are thought to have their own minds, rejecting those who are unfit to rule with well-placed nicknames.
In “Game of Thrones,” this seat made from the blade of a vanquished rival was terrifying to look at, but not a threat to life or limb. “The Dragon” approaches Martin’s vision with a new twist — a cut Viserys (Paddy Considine) received not only refuses to heal, but infects him with a particularly nasty strain of leprosy. His reign eats him alive.
“I have always viewed the throne as a cursed possession,” Considine said Monday morning. “It’s made of swords where people died, and it has this strange power.”
By Sunday night’s episode, the eighth episode of the season, Viserys no longer looks like a proud Targaryen king. He resembles the Phantom of the Opera (with a metal mask covering half of his face) or the Crypt his Keeper (with a gaping hole underneath). that). (The amazing effect was created with a blend of prosthetic makeup, visual effects, and a body double.) Viserys has a half-life under the influence of the pain-dulling (and mind-clouding) Westerosi morphine called poppy milk. That is, he skips drugs for his final visit to the royal palace, defends the rights of his daughter-named heiress Laenira (Emma Darcy), and attends a family dinner, until he attends a family dinner. put their grievances aside.
Considine delivers a serious and poignant performance as Viserys. Due to the show’s out-of-order shooting schedule, the actors’ first scenes had to first portray some of Viserys’ late stages of deterioration. This was a closely guarded secret on set. (A security guard chased him with an umbrella that blocked his view.)
Now that his on-screen face has been revealed to everyone but him, Considine spoke about the show’s latest revelations in a phone conversation from London on Monday. is.
Return to Westeros in “House of the Dragon”
HBO’s long-awaited ‘Game of Thrones’ prequel series is here.
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Have you seen your death episode yet?
No, never. I haven’t really seen anything after episode 2. Some people hate looking at themselves, and I am one of them. it is debilitating. I just tend to stay away. I’m sure someone will show you a picture.
At what point did you figure out what the King’s degradation stage looked like?
Very early on, you are still forming a character. I knew it would end with some kind of change, so you’re always looking for references for that, and you happen to be watching a documentary on Richard Hambleton, one of my favorite artists of him. I was. [a Canadian conceptual artist who died in 2017], and sees his physical decline due to cancer, addiction and scoliosis.I told Miguel Sapochnik [an executive producer, and a showrunner for the first season]”This is a good idea of where Viserys is going to end up.”
Extreme — Viserys, who looks very emaciated, how he’s affected by cancer, this thing eats into his face — that decision was made halfway through filming. It may have gone more extreme than you might have imagined.
I saw my father die of cancer, and it was a very early death. So it certainly made sense to me, and I think it was pretty shocking and effective. Why so many people covet the Iron Throne is a mystery. That’s not what Viserys craved. he just had a sense of duty. He knows the weight of being a king, the weight of responsibility, and the price it will cost.
I think Viserys started dying at the moment of his wife’s funeral. It’s a slow death. Nowhere in the story does Viserys ask his Maester to treat him. I think he accepts it as part of the guilt of his decision to have his wife undergo a horrible procedure. It’s like people succumbing to illness. He doesn’t mind it when they make suggestions to cure him. He lets it consume him. he surrenders Anyway, it was me to him.
In some ways, he let Hill into his life. hightowersAfter this final moment in the throne room, do you think it was a mistake that Viserys did not give his brother the position of the Hand of the King? daemon instead?
Absolutely not! [Laughs.] Damon was responsible. It never worked. Viserys knew that Daemon would not be able to attend the meetings of the Small Council for 12 consecutive hours. he has no temperament There are no words for that relationship until the end. Daemon helped him and put a crown on his head. But that man was no match for Viserys.
Shouldn’t we at least tell the demons the prophecy?
No way, not at that time. That’s what we struggled with. There’s a deleted scene after Aemma (Sian Brooke) dies, where Viserys meets with his Daemon and he tries to hint at this prophetic idea and what the gods mean to him. He was trying to figure out where Daemon was with his beliefs, but the tone of the scene was never right: there’s not even a way for Daemon to connect to it — he’d laugh his Viserys off the room. He is not interested in dreamers or anything like that.
On his deathbed, Viserys mistakes Alicent (Olivia Cooke) for Rhaenyra and reaffirms the prophecy to her. When she leaves, he seems to think he’s talking to someone else.
the only suggestion [in the script] I mean he doesn’t really know who he’s talking to. Whether it helps the story or not, the idea has always been in my mind that the last thing Viserys will see before he dies is someone who will come to collect him from this mortal life. As he dies, he meets Emma and says, “My love.”
I improvised that line and reached out a little. Because this is a tragic love story for me in many ways. But I kept it private. After all, I never really revealed it. I thought, “If you use it, they will use it.” The story I had in mind was that he never really got over Emma and he was devastated for the rest of his life.
Do you think Viserys’ feelings for Aemma influenced how he treated his offspring in Alicent?
he gives them up.He is very protective of Rhaenyra and he is no fool – he believes that she [first three sons] Not Laenor Velaryon’s child. At some point in his life, he, along with his new family, were less interested in other children, and the children, too, spoke to the actors playing them about it. They said they thought I hated them! I said, “Where did you get it from? I don’t hate you.” They meant Viserys, not paddy.
I certainly didn’t hate them, but I didn’t have the time. It happens in families, right? He’s there, but he’s not there. Laenira, she is a connection to Emma, and as far as he is concerned, she is his only child.
Aricent appears to misunderstand the story of Viserys’ deathbed prophecy, referring to the reference to Aegon I to his son Aegon II (now played by Tom Grincarney). So she could reassert her claim to the throne. What did you think of that moment? What would that prophecy mean 200 years later?
The fact that Alicent got it wrong is terrifying. What comes next will horrify Viserys.So we have this knowledge of where this is going and the fact that [the prophecy] Realized. But the fact that it is misunderstood is an absolute disaster. Viserys would have circled his grave.
of Behind the scenes footage from HBO Max, you were dancing in the throne room wielding a dragon staff. You said you “serve the Targaryen reality.”
I love “drag racing”. There was something about dressing up in these glamorous outfits that brought out an inner drag on me, and I had that lovely blonde hair. It never happened, and it may never happen again.
If a later season of House of the Dragon flashes back to this period, would you consider coming back to play Viserys?
i love him so much I think he’s my favorite character I’ve ever played. But I struggle with it. his story is told. he made an impact. He was the peaceful king that everyone thought was boring and brought love and compassion to the show. So I think that’s it.