As the year’s best TV of 2026 stacks up, a craft team focus turns to the assistant directors who keep productions running—handling triage, scheduling actors for peak performances, and making ambitious, dangerous sequences safe.
By the time it’s closer to the end of June than the beginning, it feels natural to take stock of the best TV of 2026 so far. But the most telling work doesn’t always happen in front of the camera. It happens in the weeks leading up to a shoot—and in the moments when everything is about to slip.
That’s the spotlight now. courtesy of the craft team behind IndieWire. which set out to put credit where it rarely lands: on assistant directors. They’re the people who run sets. wrangle crews of hundreds. solve scheduling snags and location issues. and—more often than viewers ever see—help make sure a production can actually finish what it set out to do.
When Lee Sung Jin, the creator of “Beef,” was asked about how assistant directors support his work, he didn’t reach for a distant metaphor. He called it triage.
“What nobody sees is that an AD is doing triage on the director’s behalf. the HODs’ behalf. the show’s behalf. all day. every day. The AD filters every department’s needs and constraints so that only the right things reach the director at the right moment. On a show like ‘Beef. ’ where everything lives or dies on whether the performances feel real. the AD is the one protecting or sacrificing the conditions that make that possible — they’re making directorial decisions constantly. they just don’t get the credit. ” Lee told IndieWire.
On “Pluribus,” triage looks like mastery of the background. “Pluribus” director Gordon Smith shouted out the show’s ADs—Angie Meyer and Rich Sickler—as masters of background action. The reason is baked into the series itself: Carol Sturka (Rhea Seehorn) is haunted by a hive-mind from the moment the show turns in the pilot. and the background has to be more than legible.
“It has to look incredibly smooth and streamlined while conveying the uncanny weirdness of the hive-mind,” Smith said.
He also pointed to the choreography of logistics—figuring out how to refill a supermarket. empty out a hospital. and make a small Quechua village sing. That meant working with movement choreographer Nito Larioza. getting hundreds of extras to move together with the camera. and folding in complicated VFX.
“Often, those sequences took days and days of prep and rehearsal, which Angie arranged. That was the only way we could make very ambitious shots go off on our schedule,” Smith said.
Ambition doesn’t just demand rehearsal. It demands safety.
Sarah Adina Smith. a director who helmed three episodes of “A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms. ” said the best ADs make sure every tiny detail is accounted for—from props to effects to stunts. She described what that can look like when a show has to prove the impossible is practical: the “Pluribus” AD team had to proof helicopters with atom bomb cases flying through a neighborhood. wolf-dog hybrids prowling around set. and a drone camera intentionally crashing. with the shrapnel that sends flying hundreds of feet.
“They act as a co-pilot during prep, often chiming in with helpful creative fixes and suggestions based on past experiences. They also work closely with the producers to make sure the production plan works within the budget constraints. Once we’re shooting, the AD runs the floor. They are mission control for the whole set — the very center of communication. They work closely with the director. DP. and the rest of the crew to help make the day while magically juggling the work of preparing for days to come. ” Smith said. “They also almost never get a break — always taking meetings at lunch and reviewing future call sheets. An AD is an essential creative ally and can absolutely make-or-break the entire production.”.
Even leadership styles differ, but the job stays centered on keeping a set emotionally and practically intact.
Uta Briesewitz, one of the directors on Season 2 of “The Pitt,” said the first AD is a director’s closest confidant and creative collaborator. On the series, she’s worked with Eric Tignini and Kevin Zelman, and she described their styles as two different kinds of support.
“They have completely different leadership styles. One is a ball of energy, spreading joy and excitement with every announcement on set. The other is gentle and calm, creating an atmosphere of warmth and care. They are both so wonderful in their own ways,” Briesewitz said. “ I feel incredibly spoiled to experience the best of both worlds on different episodes!”.
Kat Coiro, who directs on “Matlock” among other shows and films, underscored the creative weight behind scheduling. “[First AD Michele Labrucherie] is a director in her own right. so. during prep. when we are managing the schedule. I always welcome her input. Michele has a sense of humor and understands that the AD department dictates the vibe of the set. ” Coiro told IndieWire. “The biggest thing that I think people don’t realize is what an art making a schedule is — it’s not just about fitting lots of pages into a day. it’s about scheduling the actors to give their best performances.”.
That challenge becomes even more precise when the cast includes child actors.
Marc Munden. director of “Lord of the Flies. ” said his AD team’s work on scheduling and wrangling 30 boys under the age of 14 was crucial. “[First AD Ben Rogers] kept his cool throughout a physically challenging shoot. never cowed by the adult creative ambition the show demanded from a cast of children. ” Munden told IndieWire.
The work, then, isn’t a single task. It’s a special discipline that mixes strategy, tactics, safety, and creativity.
Mickey Downs. director and co-creator of “Industry. ” described the pace as relentless: the show sometimes shoots eight pages of material a day across multiple locations. “It’s the AD’s job to ensure we get everything we need while making sure the quality and time we need with the actors doesn’t suffer — it’s a huge balancing act that requires extraordinary organization skills and a cool head during times when everyone else is feeling the frustration. ” Downs said.
Jeremiah Zagar, director on “Task,” put it with an image that sticks: “As my mother would say, they hold our world in their hands like a chicken by its ankles.”
And even when directors spend hours shot-listing and designing scenes—like Marcos Siega. director on “Dexter: Resurrection. ” who said he spends a tremendous amount of time shot-listing. designing scenes. and thinking through the emotional and visual rhythms of an episode—the behind-the-scenes pressure is ongoing.
“What most viewers never realize is that an AD is constantly balancing hundreds of competing demands behind the scenes. This could be anything from location issues, crew and equipment logistics, cast availability, weather, or the safety of the crew. They do all these things. which ultimately allows me to do what I need to do to deliver the best episode. ” Siega said.
That balance stretches across period details and day-to-day realities alike. Salli Whitfield, director of “The Gilded Age,” leans on her ADs for everything from organizing fleets of carriages. Christopher Chulack, director of “Marshals,” pointed to how assistant directors act as the ultimate listeners and communicators. In every case. the story of a show’s success loops back to what happens before the first take and what gets corrected in real time.
Put simply: if a TV show feels effortless to watch, the assistant directors have usually been carrying the weight that made it possible.
assistant directors ADs Beef Lee Sung Jin Gavin Kleintop Pluribus Angie Meyer Rich Sickler Rhea Seehorn A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms Sarah Adina Smith The Pitt Eric Tignini Kevin Zelman Matlock Michele Labrucherie Lord of the Flies Ben Rogers Industry Mickey Downs Task Jeremiah Zagar Dexter: Resurrection Marcos Siega The Gilded Age Salli Whitfield Marshals Christopher Chulack
So assistant directors are basically the real stars? Kinda wild.
I didnt even know what an assistant director does lol. Sounds like theyre doing half the job so the actors can complain in peace. But anyway, good for them I guess.
Wait, is this about like… medical triage on set? Because the article says triage and I got confused. Like do they handle injuries or scheduling? Also Lee Sung Jin from Beef sounds familiar but I thought he was a comedian not a director.
Assistant directors making sure the “dangerous sequences” are safe… sounds like Hollywood safety theater to me. Like they always say its safe right before somebody gets hurt. Still, I do get it, sets are chaos and someone has to do the math. Kinda wish they talked about the stunt coordinators more though.