House of the Dragon spoilers follow.
House of the Dragon's Paddy Considine has spoken of a "brutal" filming experience from episode 1, 'The Heirs of the Dragons'.
After Sian Brooke's Queen Aemma passes away in childbirth in what could be the year's most distressing TV sequence, Considine's King Viserys Targaryen – the ruler of the Seven Kingdoms – is left shaken and in desperate need of a reliable successor to the Iron Throne.
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"Those were hard days filming," Considine told Insider and other press. "It was tough to shoot. It's all make believe, but it was tough. It was very emotional.
"In fact, it was a lot more brutal and a lot more emotional than it ends up in the final episode. And I wasn't sure about that when I first saw it. Maybe it was too much because Viserys is utterly devastated, and maybe that was too much to show early on.
"I think they really cut it down really well," added The Outsider actor.
Considine also spoke about his admiration for actress Sian Brooke, whose limited screentime has a profound effect on the remainder of this series.
"We went for it, and there's a lot of tears. But props to Sian because she was going through the physicality of everything. It was a very physical bit of work from her."
Game of Thrones seasons 1-8 are available on DVD and Blu-ray. House of the Dragon will be airing season one weekly in the US on Sundays on HBO, and on Mondays in the UK on Sky Atlantic and NOW.
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HBO/Warner Home Video Game of Thrones Seasons 1-8 - The Complete Series [DVD] [2019]
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Columbia For The Throne (Music Inspired by the HBO Series Game of Thrones) [Explicit]
Michael Joseph Game of Thrones: A Guide to Westeros and Beyond: The Complete Series
Penguin Random House George RR Martin's A Game of Thrones Leather-Cloth Boxed Set
Reporter, Digital Spy
Dan is a freelance entertainment journalist. Beginning his writing career in 2014, Dan's work first graced the pages of cult publications Starburst magazine and Little White Lies before moving onto Total Film, Digital Spy, NME and Yahoo Entertainment.
In the film and TV universe, he kneels at the altar of Jim Carrey, Daniel Plainview, Mike Ehrmantraut and Paulie Walnuts.
