House of the Dragon quietly killed off Talya, the handmaid played by former showrunner Miguel Sapochnik's wife

House of the Dragon season 2 is in full swing, and there's blood on the air. Queen Rhaenyra Targaryen (Emma D'Arcy) and King Aegon II Targaryen (Tom Glynn-Carney) are assembling their forces for war. The coming conflict, the Dance of the Dragons, is one of the most brutal civil wars in the history of Westeros; by its end, the power of House Targaryen will be a shadow of what it was once was.

Loyalties will be tested in extreme ways during the Dance, and no traitors can be allowed in either the Black or Green camp. In "A Son for a Son," we saw the first shadows of that culling, when Larys Strong (Matthew Needham) revealed that he had quietly had all the servants in the castle whose loyalty he doubted killed and replaced with his own spies.

But in a twist fitting for the scheming spy master, Larys' actions also conceal a fascinating behind-the-scenes story: one of those servants he had put to death was almost certainly Talya, who was played during House of the Dragon's first season by former showrunner Miguel Sapochnik's wife, Alexis Raben. While that alone isn't too notable, things get a bit more interesting when you dig into some of the stories surrounding Sapochnik's departure.

The many layers of Miguel Sapochnik's House of the Dragon departure

The story goes like this. Miguel Sapochnik, the director behind famous Game of Thrones episodes like "Battle of the Bastards," "The Winds of Winter," and "The Long Night," served as one of the two showrunners on House of the Dragon's first season, along with Ryan Condal. Condal was the showrunner who worked closely with author George R.R. Martin to hammer out what exactly the story would be for the spinoff, while Sapochnik brought much-needed production experience from Thrones and a distinct visual style that elevated the show's first season.

Also in the mix was Alexis Raben, who had a speaking role on the series as Alicent Hightower's (Olivia Cooke) handmaid Tayla. Raben made some great suggestions to her husband which ended up informing the story of the show, such as the idea to center Rhaenyra and Alicen'ts strained relationship. That's the sort of thing that's outside the normal purview of an actor, but due to Raben's unique situation, ended up impacting the overall direction of the series. Because of that, Raben was also billed as a producer.

After season 1 premiered, it was announced that Sapochnik would be leaving the Game of Thrones spinoff. He had been reluctant to sign on to the prequel at all, having already worked in this universe for years and knowing how exhausting it can be. Nonetheless, he became a key part of the first season's success — and HBO's commitment to doing the show. With House of the Dragon off the ground, it seemed safe for Sapochnik to step back and move on to the next thing.

“Working within the Thrones universe for the past few years has been an honor and a privilege, especially spending the last two with the amazing cast and crew of House of the Dragon,” Sapochnik said in a statement announcing his departure. “I am so proud of what we accomplished with season one and overjoyed by the enthusiastic reaction of our viewers. It was incredibly tough to decide to move on, but I know that it is the right choice for me, personally and professionally."

That seemed to be pretty cut and dry, with no more examination needed. But in early 2023, news outlet Puck reported that there was another reason for Sapochnik's departure. According to their report, HBO had pushed back on giving Raben a producer credit for House of the Dragon's second season, citing her lack of experience. (House of the Dragon season 1 is her only credit as a producer, and that seems to have come about organically during production, rather than as something HBO agreed to ahead of time.) This was reportedly a large factor in Sapochnik's decision to leave the Game of Thrones prequel series, with things growing so tense between him and HBO that an outside mediator was brought in to try and resolve the situation. It didn't work out, and Sapochnik made the choice to go.

House of the Dragon season 2 premiere seemingly confirms Talya's death

We can see how those behind-the-scenes decisions may have ultimately effected the character of Talya. During the penultimate episode of House of the Dragon season 1, "The Green Council," we learn that Alicent's seemingly faithful handmaid is actually a double agent spying for Mysaria (Sonoya Mizuno).

After Otto Hightower (Rhys Ifans) commands that word of King Viserys' (Paddy Considine) death is not to leave the Red Keep, and then it gets out anyway, Larys Strong has all the castle staff, including Talya, rounded up and taken to the dungeons for interrogation. We don't find out what happened to them in season 1, since the following episode primarily focuses on Rhaenyra Targaryen and her allies at Dragonstone.

But in the season 2 premiere, Larys finally confirms their fate in his chilling conversation with Alicent. Any servants who he deemed untrustworthy "no longer breathe our air." He had them all put to death and installed his own loyal spies instead.

Given that we know for a fact that Talya was a spy for Mysaria, who was also driven out of King's Landing by Larys and Otto during the Green Council coup, I think it's safe to say that she was among those Larys put to death. Whether that was always going to be her fate, or it's something that came about as a result of Sapochnik and Raben leaving the series, we may never know.

House of the Dragon premieres new episodes Sundays at 9:00 p.m. ET / 8:00 p.m. CT on HBO and Max.

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