Phia Saban on Helaena’s big “House of the Dragon” move in season 3 finale: ‘It’s a bit of a bucket list’

Nick RomanoMon, August 10, 2026 at 2:30 AM UTC

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Phia Saban as Helaena on the ‘House of the Dragon’ season 3 finaleCredit: Ollie Upton/HBOKey Points -

Phia Saban discusses that House of the Dragon season 3 finale cliffhanger.

The actress calls Helaena’s big moment a “bucket list” item.

She also talks about the “queen” memes and finally getting to film a dragon-riding scene.

Warning: This article contains spoilers from the House of the Dragon season 3 finale.

For House of the Dragon star Phia Saban, season 3 offered a few bucket-list items. She finally got to ride a dragon (i.e. film on the production’s mechanical buck for episode 7’s Dreamfyre sequence), she filmed her character’s death scene, and she got to wear all the makeup and prosthetics that went along with it.

“I feel quite honored to die on TV in this universe,” the actress says, now joining an exclusive club of Game of Thrones actors killed off from their respective shows in memorable ways.

Saban’s Helaena Targaryen, slowly crushed by a life in captivity as a prisoner of her half-sister, leaps from a window in the Red Keep. She dies, along with her unborn son, impaled on the spikes on the ground below. Costar Emma D’Arcy believes this moment “condemns Rhaenyra to the path she’s chosen.”

“I don’t know where we go from here, but I imagine it’s likely to be impossible in her relationship with Alicent [Olivia Cooke], which I think also means Helaena’s death condemns Rhaenyra to be alone in her pursuit for power,” the actress said.

Ahead of the season 3 finale, Saban spoke with Entertainment Weekly about the death of Helaena, how it was a bucket-list item for her, finally filming a dragon-riding sequence, and her wrap gift from showrunner Ryan Condal.

Phia Saban as Helaena Targaryen on ‘House of the Dragon’ season 3Credit: Ollie Upton/HBO

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: I can’t tell you how many times I’ve used the meme “You are a queen.” “Helaena, you are the queen.”

PHIA SABAN: I’m so glad that reached the right people. Yeah, that was really fun. We so didn’t expect that, but of course in retrospect. I’m not allowed — this is my own rule to myself — to ever send a meme or a gif of myself, but I’m just happy when I see it.

Is that the most popular one that you’ve been seeing of the Helaena memes?

Yeah. The chickens caught people’s imagination, as well. I think those two I’ve been seeing a lot of.

Well, congratulations on such an epic run with this character. Harry Collett helped coin this phrase “death call,” the call that Ryan makes to the actors when their characters are gonna get killed off. Did you get such a call ahead of season 3?

I did get such a call. I sort of saw it coming, really. And also, I think I was having less formal conversations with the people who make the show and was being like, “Come on, I know when I’m gonna die.” And they were like, “Yeah.” But Ryan did give me the official call, which is quite exhilarating and exciting, really, because you know that you’re building towards something. And also, I feel quite honored to die on TV in this universe. So it’s a bit of a bucket list.

I was trying to pinpoint the precise moment when Helaena decides to walk out of the window. For you, was it her sewing her own death onto the tapestry?

I think it’s cumulative. What’s quite interesting is that you see her sewing this season, but apart from the amazing Aemond Vagina at Harrenhal, you don’t see her embroidering the exact image of her falling. But in retrospect, you get this sense that every time she’s been picking that up, she’s been adding to that. I find it hard to say. And also, for whatever reason, I want people to see what they feel about that.

But, yes, that is definitely part of it, and it also makes me wonder whether that clarity gives her the confidence to be truthful and honest in her last moments, rather than perform this fear with Rhaenyra, which is really, whether she knows it or not, what she’s after. I think it gives her power and clarity to know who she really is.

Helaena Targaryen (Phia Saban) on ‘House of the Dragon’ season 3Credit: Ollie Upton/HBO

This tapestry that she’s sewing is the opening title sequence of the show.

Yeah. That’s really cool, isn’t it?

When did you find that out?

I think Sara Hess [lead writer and executive producer] was like, “And also the title sequence is gonna be the Helena [tapestry]” in this really cute way of being like, “This is sick!” And it is sick.

I feel like that’s quite an honor. I feel like it incorporates Helaena in such a big way into the very fabric of the show.

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Pun intended.

How did you feel about that?

I definitely felt that. And I also feel like there’s something quite Helaena about it, which is like: If you know, you know. I don’t know if necessarily everybody will make that connection. But I like seeing that Helaena representation, and I think it’s beautiful. Also, the proximity that I’ve had to the most beautiful embroidery I’ve ever seen in my whole life... You see these ancient tapestries.

I literally just watched The Odyssey. There’s such an amazing history of that weaving and craft, but the fact that all of my clothes, everything on set, everything I touched, the bedding, everything was embroidered with the most detailed, beautiful images of animals, all of this dream imagery, all of this mad stuff. I wish I could take any credit for anything to do with that, but that whole embroidery opening, I feel like, more than as much as anything else, it’s also just a showcase of the craft work that goes into this show.

Phia Saban and Emma D’Arcy on ‘House of the Dragon’ season 3Credit: Theo Whiteman/HBO

I don’t know if you would know this, but I see so many visual similarities between the window that Helaena jumps from and the window that Tommen Baratheon [Dean-Charles Chapman] jumps from on Game of Thrones. I was wondering if it was meant to be, in the context of the show, the exact same setting.

Interesting... I wonder. I don’t know if I would necessarily be in those meta-creative conversations, because I’m always trying as much as I can to focus on the inner life stuff, but I wouldn’t be surprised. There’s something quite interesting and meta about that, as well, isn’t there? About that history repeating itself, especially with the context of Helaena’s relationship to time passing and the inevitability of things. Maybe there is some cool parallels. Who knows? I don’t know.

[When asked about it during a virtual press conference, Condal told reporters, “It’s a different set build in a different world, but echoes and reflections and parallels, for sure, to be drawn between the two series.”]

This season, in general, was such a tragic season for so many characters. Helaena is the light of so many people’s lives on the show, but I feel like you did some of your most dramatic, tragic work to date. What was the directive heading into this season for Helaena?

It’s very interesting because I feel like the nice irony is that the more time you spend with the character, the more you know them. The way that that happened this season, as well — and maybe this is my projecting — Helaena knows herself more this season, too... I’ve been developing and spending so much time with this character for five years now. I just wanted to try to give credit to Helaena’s inner life and be honest about who I thought she really was, rather than necessarily always performing the thing that felt the most high drama. 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, as opposed to maybe fear and unraveling.

What I was trying not to say, which I feel like maybe I should just say, is that acting-wise, I can put a lot of pressure on myself and feel insecurities about, “We have to make this a moment and this is the show you’re on.” I should be pushing for all this intensity from Helaena. And actually, it’s really nice to be like, no, I really know this character now. I made this character, and I’m proud of the ways that she might feel surprising or different.

The book tells a different series of circumstances that lead to Helena’s self-destruction. [In Fire & Blood, Helaena jumps from a window after the death of her son, Maelor, who’s not yet born in the House of the Dragon narrative.] But I imagine it’s a completely different scenario to think about when she’s carrying the child inside of her at the moment that she chooses to end her life. Was the book helpful for you in terms of what elements of the character to grasp onto and anchor yourself in this story arc for season 3?

Where I found the book and the existing information about Helaena most helpful was actually at the very beginning of creating the character. All of that amazing context — her relationship with Dreamfyre, the histories, parents and grandparents, and expectations of princesses and all of that stuff — was really, really useful. But I suppose, as the story goes on, it really just becomes about, What’s the story that we’re telling and the story that’s being written and those given circumstances? I’ll always be fascinated in the larger scale of the universe, but I suppose when you’re making the show that you’re making, the most useful thing to do is be very specific about exactly what we’re doing.

I’m glad you brought up Dreamfyre. We finally get to see Helaena ride Dreamfyre, at least in the dream sequence of the previous episode. Do you remember your reaction when you found out you would be doing buck work finally on the show?

Yes. I used to go and visit the sound stage where everybody else was doing the buck work and be like, “This looks cool.” [Laughs] I was so, so angling to get on the dragon. I would always say to all of the people who work on the show, “You know what would be really cool? If she got on the dragon.” I couldn’t have died in the House of the Dragon and not got on my dragon. I got to do so many cool bucket-list things this season. The dragon, dying, the prosthetics [around Helaena’s death]. Creatively, I just feel so grateful that they afforded me those opportunities, because they didn’t have to do that. I do think it was an act of love and kindness that they put me on my dragon.

Was the buck stage everything you thought it would be?

Yes. It’s so fun. Not pictured was the most beautiful saddle they made for Dreamfyre. The scale’s just so huge. The saddle looked like a dragonfly. It was amazing. I’m gonna try and find images because I think it deserves to be out there in the world. But, yeah, my riding out, all of it. You just feel sick. You just feel so cool.

I’ve been seeing that Ryan gave a lot of the principal actors wrap gifts that were unique to their characters. Did you get anything in particular?

I was given my embroidery. It’s as big as my arm span, and it’s absolutely beautiful. It tells the story of the season a little bit, and it ends with me falling to my death. I treasure it. That was the kindest thing they could have done. That will be pried out of my cold, dead hands.

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