Game Of Thrones' Best Director Set To Return For Season 8

Who Else Should Direct Season 8?

Given the enormity of production, Sapochnik obviously won't be the only director to handle Game of Thrones Season 8. The show usually employs around five directors per season (when it's 10 episodes, anyway), with Season 7 having four: Jeremy Podeswa, Mark Mylod, Alan Taylor, and newbie Matt Shakman. For Season 8, it's likely they'll go with 3-4, but who should they be?

Shakman and Podeswa have already said they won't be back, while it's tough to imagine Taylor returning again (this felt like his swansong on the show). Mylod has directed six episodes, so is a favourite of Dan Weiss and David Benioff over the last couple of years, but hasn't quite proven himself in the huge action stakes the way Sapochnik has (Stormborn was good, not great), and Season 8 is likely going to be very heavy in that regard.

Another director who is quite likely to return is David Nutter, who previously helmed The Rains of Castamere and The Dance of Dragons (among others). He was initially supposed to direct The Spoils of War, but had to drop out after back surgery. If he's fully recovered, then it's likely he'll come onboard for Season 8, which is certainly no bad thing.

Another great choice would be Michelle MacLaren, who hasn't directed an episode of the show since Season 4's First of His Name. None of her four episodes are among the show's greatest, but they were very well-directed, and she's one of the very best action directors around on the small screen. Neil Marshall fits that bill too, but he's likely too busy with his Hellboy reboot. Alex Graves is another, more low-key great who has been out of the game for a while, and wouldn't be a bad choice either. For some fresh blood, someone like Mimi Leder could be a really interesting choice. She's maybe unproven in terms of action, but her work on The Leftovers was incredible.

The director list for Season 7 was released at the end of June last year. With everything taking longer this time around, it's understandable we don't have a full list yet, but since production is about to get underway we should get some more concrete news on this sooner rather than later.

Who do you want to see direct Season 8? Share your thoughts down in the comments.