We’d say congratulations to actor Paddy Considine on his new role as King Viserys Targaryen in HBO’s upcoming Game of Thrones prequel House of the Dragon, but seeing what normally happens when a Targaryen assumes power, we’ll just wish him good luck instead. According to Entertainment Weekly, the actor is the first official cast member to join the show, which takes place three hundred years before the events of Game of Thrones and seeds much of the mythology invoked in the now-concluded HBO series.
In addition to appearing as unlucky strip club bouncer Claude Bolton in the network’s Stephen King miniseries The Outsider, you likely remember the British actor from movies like Hot Fuzz, The World’s End, The Bourne Ultimatum, or The Death of Stalin, or recognize his work in series three of Peaky Blinders and the recently-released The Third Day. The BAFTA Award-winner was also nominated for the 2019 Best Actor in a Play Tony for The Ferryman.
You may already know Viserys’s fate if you’ve read George R. R. Martin’s book Fire & Blood, but for those of us who haven’t, EW says of his character, “King Viserys Targaryen is chosen by the lords of Westeros to succeed the Old King, Jaehaerys Targaryen, at the Great Council at Harrenhal. A warm, kind, and decent man, Viserys only wishes to carry forward his grandfather’s legacy. But good men do not necessarily make for great kings.†In other words, good luck out there, Your Highness. You’re going to need it.