Phia Saban plays Helaena Targaryen on House of the Dragon. Helaena is the daughter of Alicent Hightower and King Viserys Targaryen, who died at the end of season 1. She's the wife of the current king Aegon Targaryen, who is also her full brother. It's an intense role, made even moreso by all the scrutiny the show gets. House of the Dragon is a prequel to Game of Thrones, the most successful show in HBO's history, so Saban knows she has a lot of eyes on her.
But to hear her tell it, it's easy to forget how big a show House of the Dragon is when you're actually making it. "Subconsciously, you’re aware of it but thinking about it can’t be good for your acting, you need to be fearless," Saban told Hero Magazine. "But also, it’s very easy to not think about it because the reality of making it is like, you’re in Watford with your friends in an itchy wig in the lunch queue. I think there was a moment when we were filming season one, during Aegon’s coronation, Ewan asked the director if he could play the Game of Thrones theme while he walked down to get everyone hyped up. There’s moments like that where you’re like, 'Oh yeah, it’s Game of Thrones.'”
Ewan Mitchell plays Helaena's brother Aemond; he's known for being very intense about his performance, so I'm not surprised he was the one to suggest playing the Game of Thrones theme on set.
Mitchell also starred as Osferth on Netflix's medieval historical fiction series The Last Kingdom. Oddly enough, Saban had a part on that show too, as Lady Aelfwynn. "It was actually pretty insane," she remembered of shooting The Last Kingdom, which wrapped up after five seasons and a movie last year. "It was filmed in Budapest and we were shooting during Covid. We all went out there and lived in an apartment building together for eight months in a bubble. And, at the time, Budapest had a curfew at night on the streets so it literally felt like we spent eight months in a block of flats. Obviously, at the time, I was thinking of it like an infinite sleepover, but I definitely had Stockholm Syndrome by the end of it because as soon as I got back I was like: that was really intense. But it was a really amazing first experience of how collaborative and loving work can be."
Saban booked the job on The Last Kingdom shortly out of drama school, and moved on from that right into House of the Dragon. It's unusual for a new graduate to move right into big productions like that, but Saban isn't going to second guess her good fortune. "I guess the streaming services are just making so much work," she mulled. "Is it easier now? It’s something I’ve thought about. I think especially with something like House of the Dragon, it can feel quite exposing because all of the language around it reminds you that this is a big show and everybody watches it. I definitely felt like I was learning on a job that was inevitably going to be very exposing, which can sometimes mean that I held myself to quite unfair standards. But I feel like whatever job is your first, they all equal out because everyone is learning, whether it’s an ad or you’re on the Olivier Stage at the National Theatre, you’re trying to give your best performance."
In any case, Saban being a relatively new talent means she's still in touch with her drama school roots, where she got to bring a lot of creativity and variety to her stage performances. That can only be a good thing for her work on House of the Dragon. "It’s been so exciting that my only professional jobs have been screen jobs because it is so different. It’s been really cool finding that feeling I got from doing theatre when I was 14 on screen," she said. "Especially on season 2 of House of the Dragon, I was looking for a way to find that magic. On stage, it’s different because it’s not about the finished project, it’s all in the moment and then it doesn’t exist anymore. That’s something I really had to wrap my head around, 'I’m going to do this and then it’s going to exist.' It’s been a bit of an existential crisis."
Saban will return as Helaena in House of the Dragon season 3, which is due out on HBO and Max sometime in 2026.
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