And now his watch is ended.
Miguel Sapochnik is surprisingly stepping down as co-showrunner of the Game of Thrones prequel House of the Dragon less than two weeks after it premiered, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
In a statement, Sapochnik said it was "incredibly tough to decide to move on, but I know that it is the right choice for me, personally and professionally." He didn't go further into his reasons for leaving as showrunner, but the Reporter notes he spent an "exhausting" three years working on House of the Dragon.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Sapochnik will remain an executive producer, but it was a bit of a shocker to see the series lose one of its showrunners so soon. Sapochnik directed House of the Dragon's first episode, and HBO credited him with establishing the show's "signature look and feel." He previously directed iconic episodes of Game of Thrones, including "Battle of the Bastards," which won him an Emmy.
Still, he was reluctant to get involved in the franchise again given how exhausting working on the original series was, and co-creator Ryan Condal previously told the Reporter that Sapochnik once vowed, "I'm never doing Thrones again." Condal will now serve as sole showrunner.
House of the Dragon has also hired Alan Taylor as an executive producer for its second season, and he'll direct multiple episodes. Taylor directed numerous episodes of Thrones, as well as films like Thor: The Dark World.
Sapochnik's exit comes days after HBO renewed House of the Dragon for a second season after the first episode became the highest rated series premiere in the network's history. With over 10 million viewers, the series' second episode drew an even larger audience than the first.
-
Settling the West Bank: a death knell for a Palestine state?In the Spotlight The reality on the ground is that the annexation of the West Bank is all but a done deal
-
Sudoku medium: August 23, 2025The Week's daily medium sudoku puzzle
-
Sudoku hard: August 23, 2025The Week's daily hard sudoku puzzle
-
Florida erases rainbow crosswalk at Pulse nightclubSpeed Read The colorful crosswalk was outside the former LGBTQ nightclub where 49 people were killed in a 2016 shooting
-
Trump says Smithsonian too focused on slavery's illsSpeed Read The president would prefer the museum to highlight 'success,' 'brightness' and 'the future'
-
Trump to host Kennedy Honors for Kiss, StalloneSpeed Read Actor Sylvester Stallone and the glam-rock band Kiss were among those named as this year's inductees
-
White House seeks to bend Smithsonian to Trump's viewSpeed Read The Smithsonian Institution's 21 museums are under review to ensure their content aligns with the president's interpretation of American history
-
Charlamagne Tha God irks Trump with Epstein talkSpeed Read The radio host said the Jeffrey Epstein scandal could help 'traditional conservatives' take back the Republican Party
-
CBS cancels Colbert's 'Late Show'Speed Read 'The Late Show with Stephen Colbert' is ending next year
-
'Winds of Winter': A timeline of George RR Martin's progressIn Depth Westeros fans have been waiting for well over a decade, and they are going to have to keep waiting
-
Shakespeare not an absent spouse, study proposesspeed read A letter fragment suggests that the Shakespeares lived together all along, says scholar Matthew Steggle
