True Superhero Paddy Considine‘s Battle to Keep the Peace Within Westeros and Himself

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At first, Paddy Considine seemed like an unusual choice to play King Viserys Targaryen, the diplomatic and amiable ruler of Westeros in A Game of Thrones: House of the Dragon. Considine is famed for playing unpredictable and violently intimidating characters, very much the opposite approach to that taken by Viserys, but the two have much in common; the King’s battle to control his unruly court from the Iron Throne is mirrored in Paddy’s lifelong struggle with a poorly understood neurologic condition that has shaped the course of his career. Happily, Paddy has now found a solution to his troubles, but it remains to be seen whether his on-screen counterpart will do the same.

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Finding his audience

Paddy was born in 1973 in the town of Burton, in the English Midlands, and grew up on a social housing estate in the nearby suburb of Winshill. His father was a working-class Irish immigrant, and while he was a highly intelligent man according to Paddy, he was also someone who struggled to hold down a job and was frequently getting into fights. His son was similarly unruly, garnering a reputation as a troublemaker with his teachers in the local school. They could see that Paddy had potential but felt he was unlikely to make the most of it; one teacher chastised him for acting the clown, telling him, “Everyone’s laughing now, Considine, but one day you won’t have your audience.”

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