House of the Dragon Production Designer Explains How They Created the Model of Old Valyria

The penultimate episode of House of the Dragon‘s first season is dropping tonight, and it will kick off a new era now that King Viserys Targaryen (Paddy Considine) has died. During his time in the series, Viserys was not as fierce as most of his family members nor was he a dragon rider like his brother and daughter. However, he did have a special hobby of his own. The character is often seen toying with his impressive model of Old Valyria. In a new behind-the-scenes video, some of the folks who worked on the show talked about creating the model, which consisted of more than 200 separate miniature buildings. It’s revealed that many of the pieces in the model were 3D-printed during a two-month period. In fact, a single building took at least 24 hours to be printed while some of the smaller pieces were sculpted by hand.

“Viserys is not into dragon riding, he takes a more intellectual pursuit,” executive producer Ryan J. Condal explains. “The idea is that he’s gone back to all the old texts and maps, and has painstakingly recreated it.” Considine adds, “It’s a little hobby that he has there, that he escapes to.” Production Designer Jim Clay goes on to explain how he crafted the model. “We latched onto pumice stone,” he shared, “which is a much softer, volcanic stone, and ties into Dragonstone and Dragonmont and the volcanic nature of that island.”

“It’s an integral part of our story,” former showrunner Miguel Sapochnik added. “Although Viserys is very much a progressive Targaryen, he yearns for the Valyria of old, looking in some way to understand something that he can never quite grasp.” You can view the video below:

Was Viserys Targaryen Considered a Good King?

“I’m great,” Considine recently told ComicBook.com of his character. “I’m only joking. I don’t know. I don’t know if he’s a great, if it’s greatness. Well, I think there’s a bit of both in him, really.” He added, “He’s certainly not a destructive king, that’s for sure. He’s a compassionate king. And that’s rare for this kingdom that we’re familiar with.”

“He takes his place in history seriously,” Considine explained. “The only thing that corrupts Viserys is maybe the… Ultimately, he didn’t have the right temperament to be to be a king, you know, and the duties and what that means and fulfilling everybody else’s needs. You know, and he’s perceived as weak because he doesn’t go to war. But he’s a compassionate man. And in the end, is compassion corrupts him, I think, too, which is I think it’s even more tragic.”

House of the Dragon releases new episodes on HBO on Sundays.