Phia Saban embraces her character’s dramatic exit in the season three finale of HBO’s House of the Dragon, describing the fatal window leap as an honor. Meanwhile, showrunner Ryan Condal addresses ongoing creative friction with author George R.R. Martin.
The fantasy drama landscape on television rarely grants actors a peaceful exit, but the recent conclusion of HBO’s prequel series brought a surprising sense of satisfaction to one of its departing cast members. When the season three finale of HBO’s Game of Thrones prequel aired on Sunday (9 August), it cemented crucial narrative pieces for what’s sure to be a dramatic final season. Among the most striking developments was the demise of Helaena Targaryen (Phia Saban), who plunged from a window and got impaled by spikes after being imprisoned by Rhaenyra (Emma D’Arcy).
Phia Saban on Embracing Helaena Targaryen’s Fatal Exit
While receiving notification of a character’s termination usually discourages television talent, Saban felt entirely different about her departure. She noted that she anticipated the outcome after noticing her character had survived well beyond the life of her character in the books, who died much earlier in the timeline. Saban told Entertainment Weekly, I did get such a call – I sort of saw it coming, really.
Informal conversations with the people who make the show had already prepared her, as she recalled telling them, Come on, I know when I’m gonna die.
Even so, receiving the official call from showrunner Ryan Condal was described by the actor as quite exhilarating and exciting, really, because you know that you’re building towards something.
“I feel quite honored to die on TV in this universe. So it’s a bit of a bucket list.”
Phia Saban, via Entertainment Weekly
Diverging From George R.R. Martin’s Source Material
The series has continued to spark debate among purists for altering plotlines from the written works. Earlier this month, House of the Dragon director Nina Lopez-Corrado controversially
defended the show as the series continued to deviate from George RR Martin’s source material. Lopez-Corrado told Entertainment Weekly that the writers’ room deviated just a little bit in episode seven from what’s originally in the books, which helped evolve the character storylines from what were in the books. She acknowledged, I know that’s a very controversial thing to say for diehards, but I think some of the storylines that you’re gonna see in [episode] seven that’ll carry on into eight were really executed strongly by the writers and also by the actors.
Those narrative shifts have created visible friction behind the scenes. George R.R. Martin, who has a co-creator and executive producer credit on the show that began in 2022, has distanced himself from the adaptation, detailing his issues with Condal over several amendments. The author stated he had a pretty wretched year
and wasn’t looking forward to writing about everything that’s gone wrong with House of the Dragon
.
Ryan Condal Responds to Adaptation Pressures
Confronting criticism over narrative adjustments, Condal told Entertainment Weekly that the commentary was “disappointing,” explaining that the source material was not a straightforward narrative and required a looser interpretation. The showrunner acknowledged that maintaining a balance between a faithful adaptation and practical television production proved difficult as the seasons progressed, noting, It’s this incomplete history and it requires a lot of joining of the dots and a lot of invention as you go along the way.
Condal emphasized his long-standing admiration for the literary universe, noting that he has been a fan of A Song of Ice and Fire for almost 25 years and viewed George himself as a monument, a literary icon in addition to a personal hero of mine
who was heavily influential on him coming up as a writer. Despite making every effort to include George in the adaptation process over years and years of what he thought was a mutually fruitful collaboration, production realities eventually created an impasse.
“At some point, as we got deeper down the road, he just became unwilling to acknowledge the practical issues at hand in a reasonable way. And I think as a showrunner, I have to keep my practical producer hat on and my creative writer, lover-of-the-material hat on at the same time.”
Ryan Condal, via Entertainment Weekly
With the season three finale airing on Sunday (9 August) and cementing the playing pieces for what’s sure to be a dramatic final season, the creative team continues to push forward while navigating the complex relationship between original text and television adaptation.
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