Alan Taylor (born January 13, 1959) is an American television director, film director, screenwriter, and television producer. He is best known for his work on television series such as The Sopranos, Sex and the City, Mad Men, and Game of Thrones. He also directed films such as Palookaville, Thor: The Dark World, Terminator Genisys, and The Many Saints of Newark. In 2007, Taylor won a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series for The Sopranos episode "Kennedy and Heidi." In 2008 and 2018, he was also nominated in the same category for the Mad Men episode "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes" and the Game of Thrones episode "Beyond the Wall," respectively. Taylor's father, James J. Taylor, was a private in the U.S. Army translating for Voice of America, stationed in Yokohama, who subsequently held numerous jobs before becoming a videographer in Washington, D.C. Taylor's mother, Mimi Cazort, was curator emerita for the National Gallery of Canada. His sister is the indie rock musician Anna Domino. He spent part of his life in Manor Park, Ottawa, Canada, and attended Manor Park Public School and Lisgar Collegiate Institute high school. As part of the Communications Club at Lisgar, he acted in its production of The Mouse That Roared. He went on to major in history at the University of Toronto and then at New York City's Columbia University before transferring to New York University in his late 20s to study film under instructors including director Martin Scorsese. Taylor has directed for numerous programs on both network television and premium cable, most often on HBO. Taylor's early work on television includes work on The Sopranos, Sex and the City, and The West Wing. Taylor joined the crew of the HBO western drama Deadwood as a director for the first season in 2004. Taylor directed the pilot episodes of Mad Men ("Smoke Gets in Your Eyes") and Bored to Death, as well as subsequent episodes of each. He joined the HBO series Game of Thrones, directing seven episodes, including the critically acclaimed season 1 episode "Baelor." He worked on a television adaptation of the Strugatsky brothers' 1971 science fiction novel Roadside Picnic for the WGN America network. Besides his television work, Taylor's early films include Palookaville, The Emperor's New Clothes, and Kill the Poor. In the 2010s, Taylor began working on large-budget blockbuster films. He was hired to direct Thor: The Dark World (2013), a superhero film and sequel to 2011's Thor. He was approached by Marvel producer Kevin Feige following director Patty Jenkins's exit from the project and hoped he would inject a darker tone into the project after seeing Taylor's work on Game of Thrones. Taylor's next film was Terminator Genisys, a film that Taylor hoped to fix following his reading of the script, citing his love of the first two Terminator films. After directing nine episodes for the HBO series The Sopranos, Taylor was approached by show creator David Chase to return to direct the 2021 prequel film The Many Saints of Newark. In August 2022, it was announced that Taylor was hired to direct multiple episodes of the second season of House of the Dragon. Description above from the Wikipedia article Alan Taylor, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
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Biography from TMDB.
- January 1, 1965 (61)
- Director, also writer
- 30 on MovieCove · 39 credits in all
What are Alan Taylor's films like?
Across their 7 MovieCove titles with a thematic analysis, their films lean Self and Bonds.
Genres
Their MovieCove films by primary genre. The badge is the typical Midcredits score of the genre's films, the median percentile; an up arrow marks a genre at or above their average across these genres.
Themes
What they feel like to watch
Ironic 0 · Wry 0 · Earnest 5
Light 2 · Serious 2 · Dark 1
A split, not a type: Grounded 2 · Stylized 1 · Heightened 2
A split, not a type: Gentle 2 · Charged 1 · Intense 2
Steady 2 · Shifting 2 · Whiplash 1
Straight-faced 2 · Some laughs 2 · Funny 1
Slow burn 2 · Even-paced 2 · Relentless 1
A split, not a type: Casual 2 · Engaged 3 · Full focus 0
Easy watch 2 · Affecting 2 · Heavy 1
Resolved 3 · Open-ended 2 · Ambiguous 0
Moods and endings
- Happy1
- Bittersweet5
- Ambiguous1
AI-generated from each title's plot synopsis and cast list, with extra plot summaries, reviews and Parents Guide notes for titles the model may not know, and the model's own knowledge of the ones it recognizes. Only analyzed titles count, so this covers part of the filmography; the feel axes count films only for now.
Where can I watch Alan Taylor's films?
As of October 24, 2026, 24 of their 30 MovieCove titles stream on a subscription or free service, most on HBO Max (15).
- The Sopranos (1999) · director
- Game of Thrones (2011) · director, producer
- Rome (2005) · director
- The West Wing (1999) · director
- Mad Men (2007) · director
- Boardwalk Empire (2010) · director
- Deadwood (2004) · director
- Six Feet Under (2001) · director
- Oz (1997) · director
- Carnivàle (2003) · director
- In Treatment (2008) · director
- House of the Dragon (2022) · director, producer
- +3 more
Subscription and free streaming for Alan Taylor's titles on MovieCove; rent and buy are not counted. Titles are listed by Midcredits score, highest first, at most 12 per service; a dashed chip is a producer credit or a minor one, such as a thanks. A service opens the browse page, which counts movies only, so its number can differ.
Filmography
39 credits, 30 with a MovieCove page; 2 appearances as themselves are hidden until asked for.
The Vampire Lestat(2026)
Midcredits score: 77th percentile of all shows
Blue Eye Samurai(2023)
Midcredits score: 99th percentile of all shows
The Crowded Room(2023)
Midcredits score: 84th percentile of all shows
Midcredits score: 78th percentile of all shows
House of the Dragon(2022)
Midcredits score: 86th percentile of all shows
Midcredits score: 51st percentile of all films
The Art of Television: les réalisateurs de séries (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2018)
Electric Dreams(2017)
Midcredits score: 60th percentile of all shows
Terminator Genisys(2015)
Midcredits score: 44th percentile of all films
Thor: The Dark World(2013)
Midcredits score: 59th percentile of all films
The Playboy Club (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2011)
Game of Thrones(2011)
Midcredits score: 99th percentile of all shows
Boardwalk Empire(2010)
Midcredits score: 97th percentile of all shows
Rubicon(2010)
Midcredits score: 84th percentile of all shows
Bored to Death(2009)
Midcredits score: 82nd percentile of all shows
Nurse Jackie(2009)
Midcredits score: 82nd percentile of all shows
1% (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2008)
In Treatment(2008)
Midcredits score: 92nd percentile of all shows
Mad Men(2007)
Midcredits score: 98th percentile of all shows
Big Love(2006)
Midcredits score: 75th percentile of all shows
Rome(2005)
Midcredits score: 98th percentile of all shows
Lost(2004)
Midcredits score: 92nd percentile of all shows
Deadwood(2004)
Midcredits score: 97th percentile of all shows
Carnivàle(2003)
Midcredits score: 95th percentile of all shows
Keen Eddie (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2003)
Kill the Poor (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2003)
Midcredits score: 75th percentile of all films
Six Feet Under(2001)
Midcredits score: 97th percentile of all shows
Now and Again (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1999)
The West Wing(1999)
Midcredits score: 98th percentile of all shows
The Sopranos(1999)
Midcredits score: 99th percentile of all shows
Sex and the City(1998)
Midcredits score: 67th percentile of all shows
Oz(1997)
Midcredits score: 96th percentile of all shows
Palookaville(1995)
Midcredits score: 61st percentile of all films
Traders (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1996)
Midcredits score: 96th percentile of all shows
That Burning Question (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1991)
Law & Order(1990)
Midcredits score: 79th percentile of all showsRoadside Picnic (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)
Career shape
A full career of 39 titles, 38 of them dated from 1990 to 2026.
Biggest box office
Thor: The Dark World (2013)
Highest rated
Blue Eye Samurai (2023)
Most popular right now
In Treatment (2008)
Counts from TMDB across their full career, self appearances out; a title counts in every role they held on it. The ring is the typical Midcredits score (the median percentile) of the role's titles that are on MovieCove, shown from 5 scored.
How do Alan Taylor's films land?
Their typical MovieCove film has a Midcredits score in the 59th percentile, the median of all 5; across their 5 films with reception data, the typical film sits in the 53rd percentile for acclaim.
- 75th and up24
- 50th to 74th5
- 25th to 49th1
Shape of the crowd
15 of their 30 titles are Universally Loved.
- Universally Loved15
- Crowd Pleaser13
- Mixed2
Reviewers score the atmosphere 60/100 and the pacing 46/100 in their films, across 5 reviewed titles. The element that speaks to their work as a director.
Percentiles are each film's standing among all films on MovieCove; the typical film is the median, so one outlier cannot drag it. Percentiles and reviewer scores count the films IMDb credits them on, for now; the Midcredits score bands, the shape of the crowd and the two cards count their MovieCove titles, shows included (a show ranked among shows), appearances as themselves left out. A descriptor is the shape of a title's IMDb rating distribution against the catalog; "most divisive" needs a spread wider than half of all titles, and a card names only a principal credit: a craft role, and on a show a crew role or a run of episodes, never a courtesy credit or a one-off guest spot.
Is Alan Taylor's work okay for kids?
Across up to 5 MovieCove titles with content scores, profanity runs heavier than most films.
Severity 0–100 from the Content Guide. Categories with under 10 votes on a title are not counted. The band's colour is the severity of their median, named beside it.
Who does Alan Taylor work with?
People who share at least 2 of Alan Taylor's MovieCove titles, grouped by what they did on them; Kramer Morgenthau shares the most, 3.
Composers and cinematographers
- Kramer MorgenthauShared titles: The Many Saints of Newark (2021), Terminator Genisys (2015), Thor: The Dark World (2013)See all 3 shared titles with Kramer Morgenthau
- Rachel PortmanShared titles: The Emperor's New Clothes (2001), Palookaville (1995)See all 2 shared titles with Rachel Portman
Producers
- Uberto PasoliniShared titles: The Emperor's New Clothes (2001), Palookaville (1995)See all 2 shared titles with Uberto Pasolini
Mixed roles
- Kenneth BranaghShared titles: Blue Eye Samurai (2023), Thor: The Dark World (2013)See all 2 shared titles with Kenneth Branagh
