Phia Saban was very impressed by the headless baby prosthetic on House of the Dragon

The premiere episode of House of the Dragon season 2 ended with the young prince Jaehaerys Targaryen being beheaded by a couple of mercenaries sent into the Red Keep by Daemon Targaryen (Matt Smith). Worse, it happened right in front of Jaehaeyrs' mother Helaena (Phia Saban), who will surely carry this scar with her for the rest of her life.

The second episode of the season was even more disturbing, as Helaena and her mother Alicent are made to ride in the back of a carriage as the body of baby Jaehaerys is marched through the streets in a funeral procession, the better for the smallfolk of King's Landing to see him and grow wrathful towards Queen Rhaenyra Targaryen (Emma D'Arcy), who is contesting the throne of Helaena's husband King Aegon. For the occasion, someone in the Red Keep had the unfortunate job of sewing Jaehaerys' head back onto his neck, which made for a memorable visual.

"[Producer] Sara Hess pitched that in the room, making a funeral procession a public show and marching Jaehaerys’ body — and showing the fact that they had cut his head off and then stitched it back onto his body — through the public square as a way of diminishing Rhaenyra and her claim, to try to create a monster out of her," showrunner Ryan Condal told Variety. "A great Otto Hightower plot that obviously does have some effect to win points for the greens’ side." Incidentally, he confirmed that it wasn't their intention to make viewers nervous that the head might fall out during the ride, although the interviewer thought that might happen and I don't blame them.

As for Phia Saban, she was impressed with the prosthetic, headless child the props team cooked up for the occasion. “I remember them being like, ‘Do you want to see the dummy?’ Oh goodness, it was really beautifully done,” she raved. “They wove gold thread and you could see how the head was sewn back on the body. He had all flowers and everything.”

"It was an amazing prosthetic. It was really intense. Then you become a bit numb to the fact and we’re just singing on the back of the carriage between takes."

That was likely the last we'll see of little headless baby Jaehaerys...then again, don't doubt the ability of House of the Dragon to shock and disturb us. New episodes air Sundays nights on HBO and Max.

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