George R. R. Martin believes Paddy Considine’s portrayal of Viserys is better than how he wrote the part

George R.R Martin has praised House of the Dragon actor Paddy Considine for his portrayal of King Viserys.

The Game of Thrones author has even gone as far as calling for him to win an Emmy Award for his performance in the House of the Dragon series.

Martin took to his blog to share his thoughts and feelings (spoiler alert: it's all praise) on the most recent episode of the hit new HBO show.

"Sunday’s episode 'Lord of the Tides' was everything I hoped it should be," Martin said.

"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."

Martin continued: "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."

Martin went on to heap even more praise on Considine, adding: "Paddy deserves an Emmy for this episode alone. If he doesn’t get one, hey, there’s no justice."

We want justice for the final season of Game of Thrones, but not everything is fair in love, war, and television, apparently.

Considine revealed in a recent interview with GQ Hype that he received a text message from the iconic author that blew him away.

"I got a text message that simply said: 'Your Viserys is better than my Viserys'," the British actor said.

"It was from George R.R. Martin. And I thought: 'that’ll do it. Thanks for trusting me'."

The most recent House of the Dragon episode has also proved to be a real winner with fans, despite audience complaints that the Targaryen clan like to recycle their baby names.

But it turns out one of the best scenes in episode eight happened totally by accident.

Warning: In the words of Lady Melisandre, this story is dark and full of spoilers.

Viserys' brother Daemon (Matt Smith) finally showed his softer side when he helped his brother up the stairs to the Iron Throne.

It's safe to say that the pair have had their ups and downs throughout the series, so when Viserys' crown dropped off his head and Daemon stoopped to pick it up, it's a pretty big deal.

However, that's not how the scene was supposed to play out, as the director of the episode Geeta Patel revealed.

 "We decided to shoot it both ways with the crown falling off and with the crown not falling off. Every time the crown fell off, all of us just caught our breath," Patel said.

And, they absolutely made the right choice to keep the scene in because the result was incredible.

UK viewers can catch House of the Dragon on Sky Atlantic and NOW, while the show will be available in the US on HBO and HBO Max. Aussie viewers can catch it on Mondays on Binge.

Featured Image Credit: HBO.

Topics: TV and Film, House of the Dragon, News, Game of Thrones, Books

Rachel Lang

Rachel Lang is a Digital Journalist at LADbible. During her career, she has interviewed Aussie PM Malcolm Turnbull in the lead up to the 2016 federal election, ran an editorial campaign on the war in Yemen, and reported on homelessness in the lead-up to Harry and Meghan’s wedding in Windsor. She also once wrote a yarn on the cheese and wine version of Fyre Festival.

@rlangjournalist