The Real Reason Why Miguel Sapochnik Left House of the Dragon
Turns out the whole drama wasn’t worth it after all.
No one would have ever thought that House of the Dragon ’s side character is able to cause a major fuss in the show’s creative team, yet here it is.
Before kicking it off with its first season, Game of Thrones ’ prequel got itself an ensemble of the industry’s biggest figures who initially had quite low chances to ever dispute over the whole shooting process. However, an awkward situation happened for a very different reason, and it had little to do with House of the Dragon’s plot.
Back in 2020, Game of Thrones’ vet Miguel Sapochnik joined House of the Dragon’s team with a high potential to make the franchise even more successful than ever before, but things went in a wrong direction after the show wrapped season 1 up.
With Sapochnik being one of those who helmed the entire series as a director, showrunner and executive producer, House of the Dragon was also a family affair for the filmmaker since his wife Alexis Raben was in the show as well, portraying Queen Alicent’s lady-in-waiting Talya.
Though the latter’s role didn’t really have that much of an impact on House of the Dragon’s storyline (fair to say it didn’t have any impact at all), the actress is still responsible for her husband’s eventual exit from the series.
According to reports that flushed social media back then, Sapochnik wanted a bigger role for Raben and suggested she should join him and House of the Dragon’s current showrunner Ryan Condal as another producer for the second season.
The idea was quickly rejected by HBO’s execs, who considered the actress inexperienced in things like this and thus suggested that helming one season alongside her husband would be enough.
Despite HBO’s attempts to find a solution that would please everyone involved, Sapochnik had no intention to compromise and eventually left the prequel stating that “it was incredibly tough to decide to move on, but I know that it is the right choice for me, personally and professionally.”
Now neither Sapochnik nor Raben has a saying in House of the Dragon’s season 2, but fans seem to be just fine with it, praising the show’s current execs for not letting nepotism spread even further.
Source: TVLine