During House of the Dragon star Paddy Considine’s panel at the official Game of Thrones Convention (via Entertainment Weekly), the Viserys actor confirms one thing about the vision his character saw in his deathbed, to whom he utters “My love” to: his first wife, Queen Aemma (played by Sian Brooke).
“I made it up in my own mind that when he dies, he sees Aemma because her death is the spiral. That’s his downfall, really. He never gets over that death, which was kind of misunderstood, I think, by people early on. I think they thought I killed my wife, but that wasn’t the case. They were both going to die.”
To recap, Aemma died while giving birth to their son, Baelon, which of course threatened the life of Viserys’ first wife, prompting the maester to heed Viserys’ choice between the two lives.
“They had the chance of saving Baelon, but it meant putting her through a horrific procedure. I think it was misunderstood that he killed her, but he was actually trying to save the child or they were both gonna die. I don’t think he ever recovered from that.”
Considine expressed how Brooke left such a ‘massive impression’ despite only working for a few days that the actor found inspiration within her presence to take advantage of in an improvised line he did on his character’s deathbed. Interestingly, this emphasizes how the line “My love” should feel upon seeing the ‘only woman he ever truly loved.’
“It just became the catalyst for his journey, really. He was only ever really in love with her. And if you watch the show… the sicker he gets, [the more] he’s never asking for a cure. He’s never the one asking for help. It’s everybody else around him. It’s almost like he’s accepting what’s happening to him physically as a punishment.”
Meanwhile, House of the Dragon Season 2 has not yet been given an official release date, but is expected to begin production in early 2023 and set to return on HBO sometime in 2024. Stay tuned for more updates on this story.
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