"I don't see myself as a female director, I see myself as a director who happens to be a woman."
Michelle Maxwell MacLaren (born 1965) is a Canadian director and producer.
She has worked mainly on television, having directed episodes of The X-Files, Breaking Bad (and its spin-off Better Call Saul), The Walking Dead, Game of Thrones, and Westworld. She won two back-to-back Primetime Emmy Awards for producing Breaking Bad in 2013 and 2014.
Films she has directed with pages on TV Tropes:
- Population 436 (2006)
TV series she has worked in with pages on TV Tropes:
- Harsh Realm (1999–2000, co-executive producer, 8 episodes)
- The X-Files (2000–2002, director/co-executive producer)
- Without a Trace (2002, director, 1 episode)
- John Doe (2003, director, 1 episode)
- Night Stalker (2005, executive producer, 1 episode)
- Kyle XY (2006, director, 1 episode)
- Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (2006, director, 1 episode)
- Breaking Bad (2009–2013, director/executive producer, 11 episodes)
- Better Call Saul (2015–2022, director, 3 episodes)
- The Event (2010, director, 1 episode)
- Lie to Me (2010, director, 1 episode)
- Memphis Beat (2010, director, 1 episode)
- The Walking Dead (2010–2014, director, 3 episodes)
- Hell on Wheels (2011, director, 1 episode)
- Camelot (2011, director, 1 episode)
- The River (2012, director, 1 episode)
- NCIS (2012, director, 1 episode)
- Game of Thrones (2013–2014, director, 4 episodes)
- The Leftovers (2014, director, 1 episode)
- Westworld (2016, director, 1 episode)
- Modern Family (2017, director, 1 episode)
- The Deuce (2017–2019 director/executive producer, 2 episodes)
- The Morning Show (2019, director, 1 episode)
Her work provides examples of the following tropes:
- What Could Have Been:
- In November 2014, she was announced as the director of Wonder Woman, the first solo cinematic appearance of the namesake character, as part of the DC Extended Universe, and she came to be viewed so closely to the movie to the point a Vulture interview with her a month after the announcement was titled "The Other Wonder Woman"
. However, in April 2015 MacLaren left the project due to Creative Differences and ultimately Patty Jenkins directed the film. - She was one of the directors considered to direct Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 after James Gunn was fired by Disney over old controversial tweets that had resurfaced online, before he was eventually reinstated due to both public outcry at the decision and because none of the directors approached were willing to take over the Guardians franchise.
- In November 2014, she was announced as the director of Wonder Woman, the first solo cinematic appearance of the namesake character, as part of the DC Extended Universe, and she came to be viewed so closely to the movie to the point a Vulture interview with her a month after the announcement was titled "The Other Wonder Woman"
