House of the Dragon star reveals he left scripts ‘in hotel bin’

Game of Thrones scripts are famously top-secret, but one of the stars of the prequel has revealed he was almost responsible for a major leak.

Game of Thrones scripts were so famously shrouded in secrecy, not even the cast were able to properly read them.

For the final season in 2019, the top-secret pages seeping with juicy spoilers would self-destruct after just one read-through, while actors were also blocked from taking screenshots.

HBO bosses wanted to adopt a similar protocol for its prequel, House of the Dragon, which premieres today Monday August 22 on Binge and Foxtel, but French actor Fabien Frankel says his big name co-star Matt Smith managed to convince producers the actors needed hard copies.

“Matt said ‘You know I think the most important thing for us, [is] where we get to go home, take our scripts with us and do the work that we get to do. And to be able to write with them and sleep with them and have them in the bath and whatever it is’,” Frankel says of Smith’s bid.

“And actually without him saying that, I don’t think we would have gotten the scripts.”

But Smith’s efforts could’ve backfired spectacularly thanks to his co-star, British actor Paddy Considine, who was almost responsible for a potentially disastrous leak.

“I left a couple of scripts in a hotel bin,” spills Considine, who plays King Viserys Targaryen in HotD.

Paddy Considine reveals he left his top-secret scripts in a hotel bin. Picture: Frazer Harrison/Getty Images

“They’ve gone now. I didn’t alert anybody. I thought, ‘It’s gonna cause too much trouble.’ But nothing got out. I’m good at keeping secrets, except for when I leave scripts in bins.”

The plot for the $300 million show, which premieres its first episode on Binge and Foxtel in Australia on August 22, has been the subject of widespread fan speculation since it was announced over a year ago.

But Considine surprisingly doesn’t get interrogated for exclusive insights, which he says speaks to the devotion of the diehard fanbase.

“It’s fascinating. People don’t want to know. And I think that’s really cool,” he says.

“I have a lot of friends who are fans. I’ve never been cast in anything before where – even when I did a really popular show called Peaky Blinders – that never got the reaction it got when I said I’m doing the Game of Thrones.”

Stream House of the Dragon from August 22 on BINGE or on FOXTEL. New BINGE customers get a 14-day free trial. Sign up at binge.com.au

Considine stars as King Viserys Targaryen in House of the Dragon. Picture: HBO

Considine, 48, is a true veteran of both the big and small screen, boasting up to 50 acting credits on his wide-ranging resume.

His most high-profile film projects have included Bourne Ultimatum, Justin Kurzel’s Macbeth, The Death of Stalin, Miss You Already, Cinderella Man and two of Edgar Wright’s Cornetto Trilogy, Hot Fuzz and The World’s End.

He was working on an indie film in Ireland “getting paid nothing” when the call for House of the Dragon came along.

“I looked at these hotel walls and I wasn’t allowed out and I’m in quarantine, and I go, ‘Yeah, that sounds like a good proposition. What do they want me to do? I’ll do anything’,” Considine jokes.

Writer Ryan Condal and returning director Miguel Sapochnik had hopes for Considine to play the key role of Viserys, the benevolent ruler of the Seven Kingdoms.

The World’s End cast: Martin Freeman, Paddy Considine, Simon Pegg, Nick Frost and Eddie Marsan.

“I spoke to Ryan and Miguel and they hadn’t gone out to anybody else. I was the first choice and I was the first one cast and I was really grateful, and they were like ‘We’ll send you the scripts.’

“And I thought, well, here’s the crunch because like, I just prayed that there was a character there … Because I do actually get offered quite a bit of stuff here and there. And people are so desperate to have you on their project, and you go, ‘Oh that’s amazing’, and then you get the script and there’s about three scenes and it’s 10 episodes and it’s just a waste of time.

“So when I opened this script and actually read it, I was like, I’ve been waiting for someone like this to come along.

“Within that world of Thrones, it was very rare to see somebody who was virtuous and genuine … Somebody who was a king that wasn’t driven by power or wasn’t a tyrant … He was more complex and I was flattered that they offered me that complexity.”

Considine speaking at Comic-Con in July. Picture: Chris Delmas/AFP

It wasn’t his first GoT related phone call, however.

Considine reveals he was asked to audition for an unspecified role in the original series, but he turned down the opportunity because it “sounded like a headache.”

“I just wasn’t interested. They were like, ‘HBO are doing it. It’s about dragons and kingdoms and I went, ‘Oh man, what am I supposed to be looking at here?’

“I couldn’t make sense of it really.”

When it ultimately went on to become a global phenomenon – going down in history as one of the most popular shows of all time – Considine turned out to be one of its millions of viewers, but remarkably, he had no regrets.

“I’m not that sort of person … What’s for you won’t pass you by,” he says.

“And I think that’s true. And King Viserys came to me, so, there you go. That’s how that works out. So I’m happy.”

House of the Dragon premieres express from the US on Binge and Foxtel August 22