King Viserys Targaryen (Paddy Considine) is the catalyst for everything that is currently going on in House of the Dragon.
When his wife didn’t immediately produce a male heir and then later died in childbirth, Viserys ended up naming his daughter, Princess Rhaenyra (portrayed at the time by Milly Alcock), as the official successor to the Iron Throne.
This was further helped by the fact that his brother, Prince Daemon (Matt Smith), and the only other possible candidate, made a horrible comment about his son, who died after only living a few hours.
While the king can be accused of making many wrong calls over the first eight episodes of the new TV show, he definitely clung firmly to the belief his daughter should rule — even after he produces sons with his second wife, Alicent Hightower (Olivia Cooke).
However, now that he has died at the end of Episode 8, things are about to get complicated again regarding his line of succession as Alicent believes her firstborn son, Aegon (Tom Glynn-Carney), should rule thanks to a conversation had as the king was dying, further complicating things.
However, according to George R. R. Martin, who wrote the book on which House of the Dragon is based, there needs to be no confusion over who is the better King Viserys.
George R. R. Martin praises Paddy Considine
In a recent blog post, George R. R. Martin, who wrote the book, Fire and Blood, on which House of the Dragon is based, the author praised Paddy Considine’s performance as King Viserys.
He even noted that he preferred Considine’s version and that the actor should receive an Emmy for his performance as the king who died after a protracted case of leprosy.
While the author made note of all the hard work that has gone into creating the new TV show, which is a prequel series to Game of Thrones, he made a special mention of Considine.
“…Particularly to Paddy Considine, for his portrayal of King Viserys, the First of His Name. The character he created (with Ryan and Sara and Ti and the rest of our writers) for the show is so much more powerful and tragic and fully-fleshed than my own version in FIRE & BLOOD,” Martin wrote.
TV version has George R. R. Martin wanting to rewrite his book
The author was so impressed with Considine’s portrayal of King Viserys that it inspired him to consider taking a second swipe through his book to create a character as fleshed out as the TV version.
For fans who are desperately waiting on the next book in the A Song of Ice and Fire series, this is not the news they wanted to read.
But, don’t worry, he insists that he won’t be changing anything.
“I am half tempted to go back and rip up those chapters and rewrite the whole history of his reign,” Martin continued.
“Paddy deserves an Emmy for this episode alone. If he doesn’t get one, hey, there’s no justice. Meanwhile, I am going to give Archmaester Gyldayn a smack for leaving out so much good stuff.
(No, I am not really going to rewrite FIRE & BLOOD, that was a jape). ((And no, I am not going to assault Archmaester [Gyldayn], who does not actually exist. I made him up)).”
House of the Dragon airs every Sunday night at 9/8c on HBO Max.