Paddy Considine, the actor playing Viserys I Targaryen in HBO’s House of the Dragon, spoke to GQ about embodying the character in the television adaptation, and revealed Game of Thrones author George R. R. Martin told him he preferred his interpretation to the one he wrote in the books.
In the interview, Considine talked about how he interpreted Viserys as less passive than he was described in the books, and that he wanted the character to be more driven as a leader who desired peace.
“What I found really interesting about him was that he wasn’t corrupted by power,” Considine told GQ. “He just wanted peace. He wanted people to be happy at the end of the day, but that makes him weak. So what would have made him more relatable, if he was a dictator? If he was a tyrant? Would that be more satisfying? It’s not who he is.”
According to Considine, it took time for other members of the show’s production to get on board with his interpretation, but he also says Martin was so pleased with how Viserys’ live-action iteration turned out that he told the actor he portrayed the superior character in the end.
“I got a text message that simply said: ‘Your Viserys is better than my Viserys’,” Considine said. “It was from George R. R. Martin. And I thought: that’ll do it. Thanks for trusting me.”
House of the Dragon is eight episodes into its 10-episode season. For more on the show, check out IGN’s review of the latest episode.
Kenneth Shepard is a writer covering games, entertainment, and queerness all around the internet. Find him on Twitter at @shepardcdr, and listen to his biweekly video game retrospective podcast Normandy FM, which is currently covering Cyberpunk 2077.
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