House of the Dragon Star Paddy Considine Bids Farewell to Series in Touching Post

This past Sunday’s episode of House of the Dragon saw the series bid farewell to one of its most important characters. King Viserys Targaryen has been slowly dying since the series began, and the final scene of its eighth episode saw the character breathe his last breath. In those eight episodes, actor Paddy Considine brought many layers to Viserys and worked to make the character even more intriguing than he was in Fire & Blood. Following the King’s death, Considine took to Instagram to say goodbye to Viserys, a character he has come to love very much.

“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.”

Considine spent more than half the post acknowledging Sian Brooke, who played Viserys’ wife Aemma in the first episode. She died in childbirth, and Considine explained that her death influenced everything about Viserys through the rest of his arc. 

“I want to give a 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 actor continued. “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.”

Will Viserys Return to House of the Dragon?

Viserys definitely died at the end of House of the Dragon‘s eighth episode, but considering the series exists in a world with magical creatures, there will be those who wonder if he could come back. As Considine wrote in his post, however, King Viserys is “no more.”

Much like Ned Stark in Game of Thrones, Viserys’ death acts as the catalyst for most of the events of the series. The character needs to exit for the story to really begin. We have definitely seen the last of Viserys.

New episodes of House of the Dragon air on HBO and HBO Max on Sunday nights.