Paddy Considine on Balancing Love and Duty in House of the Dragon

In a conversation with In Creative Company, Paddy Considine sat down to dissect the man on the Iron Throne, King Viserys, on HBO Max’s House of the Dragon.

As one of the few actors who remains following the show’s various time jumps, Considine spoke about the importance of establishing a foundation for King Viserys that stays with the character as the storyline progresses. He establishes Viserys as an outsider whose mental and physical decay is very much representative of the decay of peace in the kingdom he rules over. He speaks to the moral goodness of the character amongst the sea of corrupt and conniving people surrounding him, and how that made him drawn to playing the character in the first place as opposed to one of a typical tyrant ruler. Considine also touched on some viewers’ misunderstanding Viserys as weak where in actuality, the King is someone who is not driven by power, but by his duty to protect the realm from the impending prophecy that looms over it and how that then affects the give and take of some of his decision-making.

In terms of the complex relationships Viserys has with his family members, Considine drew from his own relationship with his siblings and the overwhelming sense of love that still lies beneath any conflict that may come about. For Daemon, he spoke about the push and pull his character feels when it comes to love and duty, and how the King must choose between these two values when it comes to dealing with the actions of his brother.

The actor mentioned a crucial moment during the read-through where Showrunner Miguel Sapochnik voiced that he wanted to put more “Paddy” into the character and how that sparked something within Considine and liberated him to take creative license and truly own King Viserys. He talked about bringing the “Dragon” to the character and balancing the dichotomy of being the nice guy but also showing the force of his strength and power as a Targaryen ruler. Alongside this, Considine crafted the endpoint he envisioned for King Viserys by drawing from his experience with his parents and their illnesses when shifting the character’s priorities further away from responsibility to family.

Watch the full conversation below.

Q&A on the HBO series House of the Dragon with actor Paddy Considine.

The reign of House Targaryen begins: House of the Dragon, the prequel to Game of Thrones, is here. Based on George R.R. Martin’s “Fire & Blood,” the series, which is set 200 years before the events of Game of Thrones, tells the story of House Targaryen.