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House of the Dragon Episode 8 Poignant Viserys Moment was Improvised by Matt Smith


House of the Dragon Episode 8 had a lot of memorable moments as Rhaenyra Targaryen returned to King's Landing but there is one scene that people simply cannot stop talking about. Amazingly, the same sequence was actually improvised by Paddy Considine and Matt Smith, giving Viserys and Daemon Targaryen a poignant moment that didn't appear in the book.

In House of the Dragon Episode 8, King Viserys was already very ill and mostly confined to his bed, leaving Alicent and Otto Hightower to attend to his affairs. This included listening to Vaemond Velaryon's petition to be named the next Lord of the Tides after his brother Corlys suffered potentially fatal injuries. If the queen and the Hand take Vaemond's side, Rhaenyra's son Lucerys Velaryon will be robbed of his inheritance.

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Luckily, Viserys had decided to leave his bed and attend to the petition. It was a major struggle for the king but he refused aid from the Kingsguard and wanted to make his way to the Iron Throne on his own. However, he stumbles and drops his crown and someone immediately steps in to help him. Viserys initially resists but he realizes it is Daemon Targaryen and allows his brother to help him. Daemon even puts the crown of Viserys' head once he is seated.

It's a poignant scene that almost didn't happen but thanks to Matt Smith, the brothers shared an emotional moment. House of the Dragon Episode 8 director Geeta Patel tells Entertainment Weekly that it was Smith's idea.

"When we were shooting that – I think the rehearsal again, the first day – the crown fell off of Paddy's head and Matt picked it up and we just kept going," Patel said. "We didn't stop [filming]. There was a discovery there of this moment. So then the three of us got together and they were like, 'We felt this. This felt like the turning point in our relationship.' It's just a silent moment."

We're glad that Patel decided to keep the scene in the episode as it finally gave Viserys and Daemon a poignant moment after all the chaos.

The latest episode of House of the Dragon is now available on HBO Max. House of the Dragon Episode 9 is titled The Green Council and is set to premiere on Sunday, October 16, 2022, at 9:00 PM EST.

Related: House of the Dragon Director Explains Whether Alicent Genuinely Misinterpreted Viserys' Final Words

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