House Of The Dragon showrunner Ryan Condal was "always potentially aware" that Miguel Sapochnik would leave

HBO’s House Of The Dragon may only be half a season into its expansive register of Targaryen rule in Westeros, but one of its showrunners has already set sail for a different land. Miguel Sapochnik, a Game Of Thrones veteran, is stepping back to an executive producer role on House Of The Dragon’s next season. It’s a move that fellow series head Ryan Condal—who worked with Sapochnik for nearly three years to develop the prequel—says didn’t exactly appear out of thin air.

“It was definitely in Miguel’s mind,” Condal shares with Entertainment Weekly in a new interview. “He’s definitely lived in Westeros for a really long time. I was always potentially aware that he might have just set this one season up on his feet and got the feather in his cap of doing a show that he co-ran and had a hand in the conception and casting and making of, versus the original series where he definitely became a producer at the end, was certainly I think [Game Of Thrones showrunners] David [Benioff] and Dan [”D.B.” Weiss]’s most trusted filmmaker, but not in the way that he participated in House of the Dragon. So it was always in the back of my mind.”

Condal continues: “I think at the end, he felt like he had said what he had to say. He’s a tremendously talented filmmaker, which is obvious from the work that everybody is seeing […] I think there’s lots of stories that he has left to tell. And honestly, as a fan of his, I’m excited to see where he goes next.”

Stepping into Sapochnik’s shoes next season is an equally esteemed Game Of Thrones veteran—Alan Taylor, who names Lost, Deadwood, and The Sopranos among his other credits. As excited as Condal is for Sapochnik’s next chapter, he says he also looks forward to formulating the next phases of House Of The Dragon alongside a director he’s always admired.

“[Taylor]’s a legend, has worked on almost, I think, every one of my favorite television shows of all time. When HBO brought him up, we jumped all over it,” Condal recalls. “We got on the phone and we chatted. We hit it off very quickly. He had already seen, I think by that point, the first episode of our show and was really excited about what we were doing. It was just a fast friendship that we developed.”