'House of the Dragon' : Paddy Considine talks about shooting emotional birth scene

Paddy Considine is talking about a brutal yet emotional scene that is featured in the House of the Dragon 's premiere episode.

The actor, who plays King Viserys, said the first episode's graphic C-section scene resulting in Queen Aemma's death was much more disturbing than what actually aired.

"Those were hard days filming," he told Insider during a roundtable conversation. "It was tough to shoot. It's all make-believe, but it was tough."

"It was very emotional," Considine, 48, continued. "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."

The scene, which aired in episode one of House of the Dragon on HBO Sunday, shows Considine's character King Viserys making a difficult decision about the life of his wife, Queen Aemma (Sion Brooke.) While giving birth, the King is told she'll surely die but the child would have a chance at life if a C-section is administered.

House of the Dragon airs Sundays at 9 p.m. ET on HBO.