HBO has announced the slate of directors for the sixth season of its hit fantasy epic Game Of Thrones, with five men tapped to direct two episodes each of the 10-episode season. The list is a mixture of newcomers and Thrones veterans, including the director of the fifth season’s biggest action set piece, the massive battle against the undead horde in “Hardhome.”
The director of that episode, Miguel Sapochnik, has been given control of the final two episodes of the upcoming season, the first that’s expected to really start diverging from George R.R. Martin’s yet-unwritten books. He’s joined in returning by fellow Thrones veterans Jeremy Podeswa, who directed the controversial wedding night rape scene in “Unbowed, Unbent, Unbroken,” and Mark Mylod, the former Entourage director behind “The High Sparrow” and “Sons Of The Harpy.”
The two newcomers to the program are both TV veterans; Daniel Sackheim, lately of The Americans, directed several episodes of The X-Files—including the classic first season episode “Deep Throat”—and once served as an associate producer on Miami Vice, conjuring all sorts of dreams of a Dany and Tyrion wearing sunglasses and blasting White Walkers from atop a high-speed dragon. (If you’re going to diverge from the source material, diverge hard.) Jack Bender, meanwhile, directed almost 40 episodes of Lost, including every one of the show’s explosive season finales, and will likely ensure that Game Of Thrones continues to cater to the “fans of meandering, hint-laden mythology” demographic.