Like Game of Thrones, the first season of prequel series House of the Dragon had two showrunners; Ryan Condal handled the writing side and Miguel Sapochnik the directing. Sapochnik was the director behind some of the biggest episodes of Thrones, including “Hardhome,” “Battle of the Bastards” and “The Winds of Winter,” so he was a huge asset. The first season was a huge success in part due to him.
So we were shocked when Sapochnik announced that he wasn’t returning for the second season. We still don’t completely know his reasons: it could anything from “he’d been in Westeros for years and wanted to move on,” which is understandable; all the way to, “the show wouldn’t give his wife a big enough role,” which is hilarious.
Whatever the reason Sapochnik stepped down as showrunner, the series has soldiered on without him. Star Olivia Cooke (Alicent Hightower) talked about how it’s going to TheWrap.
Olivia Cooke hopeful that House of the Dragon season 2 will be “just as good, if not better”
“We all love Miguel, he’s a brilliant director and an incredible collaborator. He had just really radical ideas when it came to making this show,” Cooke said. “And I guess there’s been this collective effort to fill his shoes with other amazing directors.”
"This year we have Geeta Patel and Clare Kilner, I mean sure we still have issues, we can’t replace him completely because he was his own entity. But there’s still that proportion to make this season just as good, if not, better."
It’s true that House of the Dragon has assembled a strong lineup of directors for the second season. Clare Kilner and Geeta Patel have already established their bonafides; Patel directed the best episode of the first season, “The Lord of the Tides,” which still makes me well up when I watch King Viserys’ long walk to the Iron Throne.
Newcomers include Andrij Parekh, who’s directed episodes of Succession, which is the most critically acclaimed drama of the past several years; and Alan Taylor, a Game of Thrones veteran who directed Ned Stark’s execution way back in the first season of the show.
So I’d say that season 2 has more than a fighting chance. It’s due to premiere on HBO and Max sometime in the summer of 2024.
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h/t Wiki of Thrones