Emmy award-winning director David Nutter returned to the Game of Thrones fold for Season 8, helming three of the final six episodes of the entire series – the season premiere, "Winterfell"; its follow-up, "A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms"; and Sunday night's entry – "The Last of the Starks."

Nutter won an Emmy in 2015 for his work directing the Season 5 finale, "Mother's Mercy," and some of his other GoT episodes include the memorable "The Dance of Dragons" (which featured the dramatic Meereen fighting pit attack against Dany, and Shireen Baratheon's death), and arguably the show's most heartbreaking episode – "The Rains of Castamere," also known as "The Red Wedding."

His most recent episode also featured heartbreak (in its opening sequence) as the victors in the war against the Night King and the undead army said goodbye to the loved ones they lost in battle, including Theon Greyjoy (Alfie Allen), Edd (Ben Crompton), Lady Lyanna Mormont (Bella Ramsey) and Daenerys' longest companion and protector – the man who gave his last breath to save her, Ser Jorah Mormont (Iain Glen).

As Daenerys Targaryen (Emilia Clarke) looked at the late Ser Jorah for the last time, she whispered a few parting words into his ears. But they will stay between the khaleesi and the spirit of her beloved late knight.

"I don't know what she said to him. We never talked about that. I wanted her to actually own that and have that be her one thing that she can say to Jorah that's hers and hers alone," Nutter told Collider on Monday when asked about touching onscreen moment.

"But also, too, I really thought that this episode was an epic, emotional story for so many of the characters," he added.

Following the funeral sendoffs, there was a massive gathering – a celebration of life, relief and victory – in the great hall at Winterfell. And while friends hugged, drank, swapped stories and played drinking games, Daenerys appeared incredibly isolated – almost like she was at the head table alone, as her nearest companion, Jon Snow (Kit Harington), was laughing off to the side with Tormund Giantstbane (Kristofer Hivju) and the wildlings (including two from the "real North" played by showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss).

"It was very important to sell the fact that she really was alone and to really get that," Nutter said. "I think that Emilia is such a fine actress that doing things like moving the camera around her at a slower pace or something, and doing something a little off center or doing something a little more personal toward her would help us feel – as an audience – involved."

"The Last of the Starks" also featured a big moment for Jaime Lannister and Brienne of Tarth. After the pair took their relationship to the next level, the Kingslayer broke things off and left in the night after hearing about Dany's losses due to Cersei Lannister (Lena Headey), Euron Greyjoy and the Iron Fleet. Collider asked Nutter about the conversations he had with actors Gwendoline Christie, who plays Brienne, and Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, who plays Jaime, about their characters' parting scene (recap note: Brienne tried to get Jaime to change his mind by telling him the city was going to be destroyed, he wouldn't be able to save Cersei and didn't need to die with her).

"Well, it was interesting. It was one in which, for the first time, [Brienne] is really – is professing her love for him by asking him to stay behind and stay with her and not go forward. And Jaime's -- his self-realization of what am I made of? Who am I? And what's causing me to do this? And basically, Cersei's causing him to do this in some respect," the director shared.

Just before Jaime rode off toward King's Landing, leaving Brienne alone in the courtyard, the Kingslayer shared a final line to her about how he is hateful, just like his twin sister. When Nutter was directing Christie and her character's reaction to that moment, he asked Coster-Waldau to say a few additional unscripted words off camera.

"When I was shooting Gwendoline's close-up, what I asked Nikolaj to do is I asked him to say -- after he finished his dialogue -- tell her, 'I don't love you anymore.' And basically, Brienne is such a sensitive person, as is Gwendoline, that that's basically the thing that he's saying … but he's not saying it too directly," Nutter said. "So I basically had him say it off camera and when he did that, she basically lost it completely and that's the reaction that was actually kind of recorded at that point."

Shortly before "The Last of The Starks" came to a close, there was a brutal death of a beloved character who first entered the drama in Season 3 – Nathalie Emmanuel's Missandei. Cersei had The Mountain kill Missandei, which devastated her love – Unsullied commander Grey Worm, played by Jacob Anderson.

"I just spent time with him alone and we talked about it and kind of let him know how his reaction … it has to be such that it needs to validate what happened … also, to legitimize what happened, and also, to give a sense of how it really affected Grey Worm and how he would react to that. And we discussed that quite extensively," Nutter said of his pre-shoot discussion with the actor.

It was a tough moment for Daenerys, too. But in the episode, the final shot of the Targaryen queen was comprised of more than grief. A whole host of emotions signaling trouble ahead flashed across Clarke's face.

"I've never seen Dany that angry and that determined. So, I would keep my head down when it comes to the next episode," Nutter suggested.

With so many interpersonal moments between the show's characters across the three episodes he directed this season, Nutter told Collider he began prepping early. After speaking to the casting director, Nutter was able to schedule a short, but crucial amount of time around the famed October 2017 cast table read, for rehearsals.

"So basically, I went back to my computer and I set up four days of rehearsals with the actors. Every scene in all three of the episodes -- every major scene, every two-hander, every banquet scene, everything I did," he explained. "So basically, I went and blocked it all out for myself, so I'd know what I wanted to do then I would bring the actors in and rehearse the sequences."

Nutter said he invited executive producers Benioff and Weiss to join members of the team, including Director of Photography David Franco, on those days.

"And then David and Dan would be there to watch to see if it fit what they were wanting to do, or if they wanted to make any dialogue and/or script adjustments and so forth and make sure the actors felt comfortable as well," he said.

It was a timesaving move for Nutter's team, allowing them to start shooting fairly quickly when they hit the set.

And not having to block on set created more opportunities "to get more coverage in, spend more time in close-ups and allow the actors to kind of really give their best performances in each of the sequences. That we weren't rushed to the extent of not being able to really tell the best story," Nutter explained.

"That was, I think, the best thing of all we did and I'm very proud of that," he said.