David Nutter up for Director’s Guild of America Award for the Season 5 finale

David Nutter is a Game of Thrones directing standby. He directed the riot in King’s Landing back in Season 2, the Red Wedding in Season 3, and Drogon’s descent on Daznak’s Pit in Season 5. Now, he’s been nominated for a Director’s Guild of America (DGA) Award for directing “Mother’s Mercy,” the fifth season finale.

As the DGA website points out, this is Nutter’s sixth DGA Award nomination. An industry veteran, he was nominated for The Sopranos episode “Join the Club” (2006), for the Entourage episodes “The Resurrection” (2007) and “Lose Yourself,” (2010), for an installment of the HBO mini-series The Pacific (2010)*, and of course for The Rains of Castamere (2013). So far, he hasn’t won, but this could be his year.

Nutter won an Emmy for his work on “Mother’s Mercy” last year, so the question is whether the DGA wants to double down on that notoriety or spread the awards love around. Here’s what the rest of the field looks like:

Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Dramatic Series

• MICHAEL ENGLER
  Downton Abbey, “Episode 8” (PBS)
• LESLI LINKA GLATTER
  Homeland, “The Tradition of Hospitality” (Showtime)
• DAVID NUTTER
  Game of Thrones, “Mother’s Mercy” (HBO)
• STEVEN SODERBERGH
  The Knick, “Williams and Walker” (Cinemax)
• MATTHEW WEINER
  Mad Men, “Person to Person” (AMC)

It’s a strong field. “Mother’s Mercy” was big on shock and awe moments (battle outside Winterfell, Arya murdering Trant, Dany encounters khalasar, Cersei’s walk, Jon Snow’s death), and Nutter handled them with aplomb. We’ll see if that wins him the day when the DGA Awards are handed out on February 6.

*Fun fact: Nutter directed one segment of The Pacific with fellow Game of Thrones director Jeremy Podeswa, who directed a couple of Season 5 episodes and will be directing the first two hours of Season 6. Did Nutter bring Podeswa to the attention of the GoT producers?

h/t Deadline