[Warning: The following contains MAJOR spoilers for the House of the Dragon Season 2 finale, “The Queen Who Ever Was.”]
Phia Saban‘s Helaena has more powers in House of the Dragon than she’s afforded in George R.R. Martin‘s Fire & Blood, but her greatest power may be over younger brother Aemond (Ewan Mitchell). The director of the Season 2 finale, Geeta Vasant Patel, tells TV Insider that Helaena is the only person capable of “taming” Aemond, who’s possessed by his desire for power.
Aemond asked his sister to ride her dragon, Dreamfyre, into battle in the August 4 season finale, but what he got in response was a chilling omen from Helaena, who said she foresaw his death and Aegon’s (Tom Glynn-Carney) return to the throne. Patel says that Aemond’s only acts of compassion of the season are tied to his sister, for whom he may have deeper feelings.
“One thing that Ryan [Condal, showrunner] and Sara [Hess, writer/executive producer] emphasized when we started shooting this episode was that Helaena was the one person that Aemond felt connected to, that could actually tame the beast that was Aemond,” Patel explains. “And so the scene where he’s arguing with Alicent and that leaves the room, what was happening — and I don’t know if it reads, it was all kind of between the lines — is that he left because he saw that he hurt Helaena.”
“If you think about Aemond’s behavior, nothing stops him. So the question is why did he stop in that moment?” she continues. “Yes, his mother’s yelling at him. That is one reason. But there’s also Helaena in the room, and I think it’s a very beautiful, subtle thing that Ryan and Sara have incorporated in that scene. It’s up for interpretation of course, but that was my take on it.”
Theo Whiteman / HBO
Aemond’s finale scene with Alicent (Olivia Cooke) and Helaena is noteworthy, as it shows Aemond’s care for his family for the first time this season. That care only comes out for his mother and sister, but Alicent clearly has no control over her son. Patel implies that the power shift between Helaena and Aemond could be greater in Season 3 (set to begin production around early 2025).
“When you get to the moment where Aemond is with Helaena again, at the end, you ask yourself, why isn’t he slapping her? Why isn’t he throwing her off the ledge?” Patel says. “She’s saying all these things because she can. I am interested to see where they go because she has a power that nobody else has over him.”
Aemond already took his brother’s throne. Does he want to take his sister/wife too? Mitchell and Saban told TV Insider ahead of the season that they definitely played into their characters’ care for each other, even when it wasn’t in the script.
When asked if Aemond and Helaena would be supportive figures for each other this season, Mitchell said, “I feel like Aemond’s capable of that love.” Saban replied, “Aemond and Helaena do have an affinity.”
“That wasn’t in the script, even,” Saban said of Season 1. “We just really felt [it]. There are just some scenes where we’d look at each other and it was just like, ‘Oh, OK, we get it.’”
Mitchell revealed that their onscreen “affinity” in Season 1 prompted the writers to build “some of that into Season 2. It kind of informed it.”
“We felt like those two get each other, the middle child and the youngest,” Saban added. “I always like doing scenes with Ewan. More would be good.”
Something tells me we’ll definitely be getting more in Season 3.
House of the Dragon, Seasons 1 & 2 Available Now, Max