Phia Saban Reveals the Truth Behind Helaena’s Shocking ‘House of the Dragon’ Finale
Phia Saban’s time as Helaena Targaryen on ‘House of the Dragon’ has come to a painful end, but the actress says the final season gave her several moments she had been hoping to experience.
Helaena’s story ends in the season three finale when she walks to a window in the Red Keep and jumps to her death. The scene is one of the season’s most heartbreaking moments, especially because Helaena is pregnant at the time.
Speaking with Entertainment Weekly before the finale aired, Saban said she actually felt honored to receive such an ending. “I feel quite honored to die on TV in this universe,” she said. “So it’s a bit of a bucket list.”
Saban said she had a feeling Helaena would not survive the season. She eventually received the official “death call” from showrunner Ryan Condal, confirming what she already suspected.
The actress also explained that Helaena’s final decision was not caused by one single moment. Instead, she sees it as the result of everything her character had experienced throughout the season.
One important clue is Helaena’s embroidery. She spends much of the season working on a tapestry that eventually becomes connected to the show’s opening title sequence. The finished work also appears to show parts of Helaena’s tragic future.
Saban believes the embroidery helped Helaena understand herself and her fate more clearly. She explained that Helaena’s growing confidence was important because she did not want to play the final moments as simple fear or panic.
“I found it really interesting to think of the character as gaining in clarity and confidence and self-assuredness as she descends into self-destruction,” Saban said. The tapestry also became a special part of Saban’s own experience on the show. She revealed that Condal gave her the finished embroidery as a wrap gift after she completed filming.
“I treasure it,” she said. “That was the kindest thing they could have done. That will be pried out of my cold, dead hands.”
Saban also finally got another moment she had been waiting for: riding Helaena’s dragon, Dreamfyre.
The sequence appears as part of Helaena’s dream storyline, and Saban was able to film it using the production’s mechanical buck. She admitted that she had been hoping for the opportunity for years.
“I couldn’t have died in the House of the Dragon and not got on my dragon,” she said. For Saban, getting to film the dragon sequence, Helaena’s death and the prosthetic work involved in the finale all became personal highlights of her time on the series. “I got to do so many cool bucket-list things this season,” she said. “Creatively, I just feel so grateful that they afforded me those opportunities.”
Saban also addressed the many Helaena memes that have appeared online, especially the popular “You are a queen” meme. She said she was happy that fans connected with it, while also admitting that the chicken jokes have become another favorite among viewers.
As for whether Helaena’s final scene intentionally mirrors Tommen Baratheon’s death in ‘Game of Thrones’, Saban said she was not sure. Showrunner Ryan Condal later told reporters that the two scenes use different sets, but that viewers can certainly find “echoes and reflections and parallels” between them.
Now that Helaena’s story is over, Saban’s performance leaves behind one of the show’s most unusual and tragic characters, along with a dragon scene and a final moment the actress considers genuine bucket-list achievements.
What was Phia Saban’s best Helaena moment?
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