I wonder if this is another hint that they are getting cancelled. They know that are going out so they are willing to give a director credit to Lana. Though, I do think that Jennifer Morrison wanted to be a producer and have more creative control of her character and not to just direct a single episode. We will probably never know for sure though.
It could be a hint of the end, but I would think Lana would have started working on this before Channing Dungey’s “cautiously optimistic” comment. Or does the director not have much of a say as to the script – I don’t know how these things work ??♂️