Paddy Considine knows his House of the Dragon king is no Ned Stark
[Ed. note: This post contains spoilers for Fire & Blood, which, by nature, will spoil later events in House of the Dragon. It also discusses the pilot episode of House in detail. Ye be warned.]
King Viserys, first of his name, isn’t going through the best time when we meet him in HBO’s House of the Dragon. Though he was eagerly anticipating the birth of a new son and heir, he quickly finds himself mourning the newborn’s death alongside that of his wife, who died in childbirth (more on that later). Shortly after that, he believes himself betrayed by his brother, who spoke callously about the queen’s death. When it rains it pours, and Viserys is stuck in a torrent.
Of course, he’s not around for very long. Viserys’ reign ends relatively quickly in Fire & Blood, the prequel book written by George R.R. Martin that House is based on. In a way, Viserys gets the Ned Stark slot: a first-season father hoping to do right by his children, and ultimately leaving behind an incredible mess for both them and the realm.
Paddy Considine, who plays Viserys, is acutely aware that the connection is there, and doesn’t look great for his Targaryen ruler.
“Ned Stark and what Sean [Bean] did was sort of in my head as I played this,” Considine tells Polygon. “It was sort of part of the makeup for me, of Viserys. He’s not a simple man, Viserys, and I think the situations around him create complications for him.”
The fifth ruler from the Targaryen family to sit upon the Iron Throne, Viserys is at once out of touch with what the world needs and acutely aware of how he falls short of providing it. In a series marked by people born into power who only crave more of it, Viserys takes the throne in a time of relative stability — and as a
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