'Game of Thrones' Director Loved Helming Pivotal Episodes

[Warning: this story contains spoilers for the fifth episode of Game of Thrones' seventh season, "Eastwatch."]

Bronn of the Blackwater (Jerome Flynn) would love nothing more than to take full credit for shooting Drogon, but another man was at least equally responsible for shooting the dragon: Matt Shakman, director of the past two episodes of Game of Thrones.

Shakman, best known for directing several episodes of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, is the filmmaker who brought the Loot Train Battle to life in "The Spoils of War," and assembled one of the greatest bands of warriors we've ever seen on Thrones by the end of "Eastwatch." Across both episodes, he advanced the rapidly growing closeness between Jon Snow (Kit Harington) and Daenerys Targaryen (Emilia Clarke), almost killed Jaime Lannister (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau), gave Tyrion (Peter Dinklage) an up close look at the horrors of war, and dropped a game-changing revelation about the King in the North. So when Shakman describes his experience helming two episodes of Game of Thrones as an "opportunity of a lifetime," it's safe to say he means it.

"I was a huge fan of the show before I got a chance to work on it," he tells The Hollywood Reporter about his work on the HBO series, "so it was definitely a dream come true. Everyone there is the top of their field and are amazing collaborators, starting with David and Dan at the very top, to the visual effects department, the special effects department, the cinematographers, the art department — everybody. It was a huge canvass. It's also very difficult. It's definitely a seven days a week and twenty-four hours a day job, but it's hugely rewarding. To be able to craft something as large as the Loot Train Battle and also be able to handle some of these more intimate scenes that are furthering characters we know and love and have been watching for years was deeply satisfying."

Read the rest of this article at The Hollywood Reporter.

Game of Thrones also stars Lena Headey and Sophie Turner.