– Alan Taylor: An Emmy-winning veteran of The Sopranos, Taylor helped pioneer the visual storytelling style of the show when he helmed the pivotal ninth and 10th episodes of season 1, particularly “Baelor” (the episode where Ned Stark was executed). The Thrones producers were so impressed they gave Taylor four episodes to helm in season 2 – including the premiere and the finale. Then Marvel snatched him up for Thor: The Dark World followed by Taylor reuniting with Emilia Clarke to direct her big-screen role inTerminator: Genisys. Now he’s back on Thrones for the first time since 2012.
– Jeremy Podeswa: The Canadian director and Boardwalk Empire veteran scored an Emmy nomination for directing the show’s most controversial hour, season 5’s darkly tense “Unbowed, Unbent, Unbroken.” This year he directed the propulsive season premiere as well as Jon Snow’s riveting resurrection episode, “Home.”
– Mark Mylod: A four-time director on the show, the British veteran of Showtime’s Shameless and HBO’s Entourage took on this season’s uniquely textured re-introduction of the The Hound in “The Broken Man,” as well as Arya’s exciting chase sequence in “No One.”
– Matt Shakman: A newcomer to the series. Shakman is best known for his work on FX’s It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, a comedy loved by Benioff and Weiss (the showrunners even wrote an episode, “Flowers for Charlie,” although it’s not one of the 39 episodes Shakman has directed). Shakman has also helmed episodes of AMC’sMad Men, CBS’ The Good Wife and FX’s Fargo.
No Sapochnik / Marshall / Nutter / Graves makes me a sad panda, but it's not a bad line-up, all things considered. Alan Taylor is back!
Solid choices, though of these the only one I really wanted back was Taylor, which is a welcome surprise. Would have liked to see Alik Sakharov, Marshall, Bender, even Graves (even despite the sept scene). And obviously Miguel Sapochnik, though I didn't expect to see him on the list.
Sapochnik is no doubt recovering from the insane amount of filming he had to do this season. Seriously, I bet his episodes took longer to film than every other episode of the season combined.
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"Give a man a fire and he's warm for a day, but set fire to him and he's warm for the rest of his life" - Terry Pratchett
I miss Sakharov, and I'm glad Mylod is back. He got a lot of shit for those two episodes, especially Arya, but I thought they were the best directed episodes after Sapochnik's. Oh well. I don't care for Graves or Nutter, to me they're overrated.
People need to also realize directors are not magicians, their sole appearance does not guarantee the quality of the final episode. Most of that is the script, and with less characters I feel a tighter narrative can be told.
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"Robert was never the same after he put on that crown. Some men are like swords, made for fighting. Hang them up and they go to rust.” -DN
People need to also realize directors are not magicians, their sole appearance does not guarantee the quality of the final episode. Most of that is the script, and with less characters I feel a tighter narrative can be told.
Completely agreed, Don. I still think some directors are better than others, regardless. I'd like to have Neil Marshall back for the final season, him and Sapochnik.
Having Alan Taylor back is awesome. Baelor and Fire & Blood still hold up.
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"By the Laws of Benioff and Weiss, I do sentence Linda Antonsson to death"
Sapotochick or Sapotchick(?) did a bang up job with the last ep. If I had any complaints it wasn't with the directing. I wonder why he wasn't signed up again. Probably got something lined up already.
