Phia Saban’s performance in House of the Dragon as Helaena Targaryen has stood out in the second season. The amount of complexity she has breathed into the character through her impressive acting is truly commendable. So much so, that George R.R. Martin also said that her take on the character is much better than who she was in his books. It is safe to say that those words, on their own, are a compliment of the highest regard.
One specific scene perfectly encapsulates her talent and gut-wrenching performance as the character; the funeral of her son, Jaehaerys Targaryen. The emotions felt by Helaena in those moments are written all over her face in the most tragic of ways, and the scene is truly heartbreaking.
It would seem that real-life events inspired this scene. During a recent interview, the director of the episode, Clare Kilner, revealed that Princess Diana’s funeral was what drew her to make the scene as emotional as it was.
Helaena Targaryen—A Grieving Celebrity?
During an interview with The Directors’ Take podcast, Clare Kilner revealed what it was like for her to film the second episode of season 2 of House of the Dragon. She talked about where she drew inspiration, specifically talking about the scene where Helaena is forced to parade her dead child’s body through the kingdom because of her mother.
The director revealed that she found the entire encounter to be similar to the experiences of many movie stars. When one is at the peak of their fame, they are constantly wherever they go, regardless of the things they are going through in their personal life. Kilner found Helaena’s experience to be similar in nature.
I know that Helaena is sort of having a panic attack and I sort of thought, she’s going through this, all these people are staring at her. It’s like a sort of superstar, like a sort of film star that people want to touch, yet she’s going through this horrendous grief.
Being forced to go through her entire kingdom full of peering eyes while she is coming undone in the worst ways possible. The director found the similarities and then turned to the perfect example of the media mixed with a grieving celebrity. It would seem that the main inspiration behind the scene was Princess Diana’s funeral.
House of the Dragon Was Influenced by Princess Diana’s Funeral
Clare Kilner further elaborated on why she thought that Helaena’s panic attack through Kings Landing was similar to Princess Diana’s funeral. Her attention seemed to be focused on the princess’ children, Prince Harry and Prince William. Since both of them were children when their mother passed, they were forced to have cameras in their faces while they grieved her.
And I also thought I drew references from Princess Diana’s funeral because I thought of those two little princes that having to walk and be watched in grief.
Being constantly watched while they mourned, Kilner thought of how Helaena was forced into a similar situation. While she was having a panic attack on the carriage, the director wondered what would happen if it got stuck, and she was forced into the stagnation of the looks in their eyes.
Slightly gruesomely, I thought if it gets stuck then everything starts falling apart and people crowd around Helaena and they want to touch her and that will help with building up to this panic attack as well, like it gives a physical reason to amp it up too.
Wanting to push Phia Saban’s character even further, the director decided to make the subjects approach her and begin to touch her, something that would only make her panic attack worse. It is safe to say that the scene had the effect that Kilner intended it to.
House of the Dragon is available for streaming on Max.
