Miguel Sapochnik


Miguel Sapochnik is an English film and television director of Argentine origin, and former storyboard artist. For his work as a director on the HBO epic fantasy series Game of Thrones, he won the award for Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series at the 68th Primetime Emmy Awards and Directors Guild of America Award for Outstanding Directing – Drama Series at the 69th Directors Guild of America Awards. Sapochnik also directed the science fiction films Repo Men and Finch.

Career

Born as Miguel Vicente Rosenberg-Sapochnik in London, England, Sapochnik began his career as a storyboard artist; some of his credits include Trainspotting and The Winter Guest.
In 2000, Sapochnik directed a 2000 short film titled The Dreamer, which he also wrote. He also directed the "Beautiful Inside" music video for singer Louise.
Between 2001 and 2005, he was a director of Snowflake in Hell Films Limited, a film and video production company in London.
Sapochnik's feature film directorial debut was Repo Men, starring Jude Law and Forest Whitaker.
Sapochnik has since then worked mainly on American television and streaming series, directing episodes of Awake, Fringe, House and Mind Games.
In 2015, Sapochnik directed two episodes of Game of Thrones for the show's fifth season, "The Gift" and "Hardhome." In 2016, he returned to direct the final two episodes of Game of Thrones sixth season, "Battle of the Bastards" and "The Winds of Winter". All of these episodes received acclaim from both critics and viewers. Sapochnik won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series at the 68th Primetime Emmy Awards, for directing "Battle of the Bastards".
In 2016, Sapochnik directed the series premiere of the show Altered Carbon for Netflix.
In 2017, he directed an episode of Iron Fist.
In April 2019, he directed the third and fifth episodes of the final season of Game of Thrones. For the former, he was nominated once again for the “Emmy Award for Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series”.
In 2022, he was co-showrunner of House of the Dragon, a prequel to Game of Thrones. The first season premiered on August 21, 2022. In August 2022, it was announced that he would be stepping down as showrunner after the first season, though he will remain as an executive producer for future seasons.
In 2025 it was announced that he would be joining the second season of 3 Body Problem.

Personal life

Sapochnik is of Argentine origin, and has been married to actress Alexis Raben since 2006.
He is Jewish.

Filmography

Film
YearTitleDirectorExecutive
Producer
2010Repo Men
2021Finch

Television
YearShowSeasonEpisodeEpisode titleNotes
2011House79"Larger Than Life"
2011House711"Family Practice"
2011House722"After Hours"
2011Fringe43"Alone in the World"
2011House87"Dead & Buried"
2012House816"Gut Check"
2012House821"Holding On"
2012Awake113"Turtles All the Way Down"
2012Falling Skies24"Young Bloods"
2012Fringe51"Transilience Thought Unifier Model-11"co-directed with Jeannot Szwarc
2013Under the Dome17"Imperfect Circles"
2013Revolution112"Ghosts"
2013Banshee19"Always the Cowboy"
2013Banshee110"A Mixture of Madness"
2014Mind Games11"Pilot"
2014Extant113"Ascension"
2015Game of Thrones57"The Gift"
2015Game of Thrones58"Hardhome"
2015Masters of Sex33"The Excitement of Release"
2015True Detective26"Church in Ruins"
2016Game of Thrones69"Battle of the Bastards"
2016Game of Thrones610"The Winds of Winter"
2017Iron Fist14"Eight Diagram Dragon Palm"
2018Altered Carbon11"Out of the Past"
2019Game of Thrones83"The Long Night"
2019Game of Thrones85"The Bells"
2022House of the Dragon11"The Heirs of the Dragon"Also showrunner and executive producer
2022House of the Dragon16"The Princess and the Queen"Also showrunner and executive producer
2022House of the Dragon17"Driftmark"Also showrunner and executive producer