Paddy Considine's time on House of the Dragon has come to an end, and the actor paid tribute to his role as King Viserys in a heartfelt Instagram post.
"Thank you for the kind words. I cannot reply to every comment, but I’d like to acknowledge that they haven’t been lost upon me," Considine wrote. "It was an incredible adventure where I made lots of new friends that will be with me for the rest of my life. I’d like to thank the creators for allowing me the freedom to make Viserys my own. I have never loved a character so much."
He also paid tribute to Sian Brooke, who played Viserys' first wife Aemma in episode 1: "I want to give massive love and respect to Sian Brooke who came in for only a few days, but changed the course of my character with her brilliant performance and commitment to the work. The impact stayed with me until my final improvised words. She unlocked the missing piece of the puzzle for me, and allowed my story to come full circle. From the moment she dies, so does Viserys. It was a love story. That’s the secret I carried with me. As sick as he gets, he never, himself, demands any cure. He quietly accepts his suffering, never forgiving himself for putting his beloved wife through such torture in her final moments. Viserys was a gift. I am so honoured he found me. Now, no more."
Game of Thrones author George R.R. Martin was a fan of Considine's performance and paid his own tribute to the actor. On his blog, he wrote of Considine's final episode: "Sunday’s episode, "Lord of the Tides," was everything I hoped it should be. Kudos to Eileen Shim, the scriptwriter, to Geeta Patel, the director, to our incredible cast… and 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 that I am half tempted to go back and rip up those chapters and rewrite the whole history of his reign. Paddy deserves an Emmy for this episode alone. If he doesn’t get one, hey, there’s no justice."
Viserys unwittingly puts an end to a time of peace in Westeros by naming his first-born child, his daughter Rhaenyra (Emma D'Arcy), as his heir, despite the belief of his wife Alicent (Olivia Cooke) that their son Aegon has a better claim as a man. At the end of episode 8, Viserys finally succumbs to his worsening illness, mumbling some last, muddled words to Alicent. He mistakes her for Rhaenyra, and so the matter of his succession is now thrown further into question.
House of the Dragon airs on Sundays on HBO and HBO Max, before following on Mondays in the UK on Sky Atlantic and NOW TV. Make sure you never miss an episode with our handy House of the Dragon release schedule and keep up to date with our guides to the House of the Dragon timeline and the Targaryen family tree.
