Despite not having any lines in the pilot, Sansa does make an appearance so they will need to cast the part with the expectation that she will later play a major role. It is conceivable that they could cast a stand-in then recast and reshoot the few scenes she is in if the series gets picked up, but it is more likely that they will just go ahead and cast the role from the beginning to avoid having to do any reshoots. Here are a few actresses that may be considered for the role.
Rachel Hurd-Wood – The hands-down consensus choice, Hurd-Wood had her breakout role as Wendy in the live action Peter Pan film. She has since done a few other smaller films. She certainly has the look, no hair dye needed here. Also judging by her credit list, it seems the Brit has a fondness for costume dramas. The big thing working against her is her age. By the time they start filming she will be 19 years old and I don’t think she can pass for a 13 year old girl now.
Julia Winter – The next candidate is much closer to Sansa’s age in the pilot script. Winter, who was born in Swedish but raised in London, will be 16 by the time filming begins. Her first (and only role so far) was as Veruca Salt in the Tim Burton film, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. While she is the right age and has a decent-enough look (not to mention the perfect last name!), her relative inexperience may hurt her here.
Dakota Blue Richards – Another young actress who was plucked from obscurity to star in a major film, Richards won the role of Lyra in The Golden Compass via an open audition that attracted 10,000 other hopefuls. Unlike Winter, Richards has followed up that opportunity with a few other movie roles. At 15 she would be the right age and she has the right look. It looks like sequels for The Golden Compass are on hold for now. So she should have the availability as well.
Lucy Boynton – Lastly, we have Boynton. While not in any films as large as the above three, her first role was as Young Beatrix Potter in Miss Potter. She has followed that up with two roles in BBC productions, the made-for-TV movie Ballet Shoes and the Sense and Sensibility mini-series. The London-born actress would be 15 at the time of filming, so she is in the correct age range. Also having worked with the BBC might help her chances. Right age, right look, right price… right choice?
As I mentioned, it wouldn’t be too surprising for Benioff and Weiss to not officially cast this role unless the series gets picked up. To avoid having to do reshoots, they could even write Sansa out of the script. Just introduce her character officially in the second episode. This might be the best solution to avoid having to spend a lot of time to cast a character that is only going to stand around in the background for the pilot episode. We shall see what they do.
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29 Comments
I don’t agree with the last paragraph. I mean, the Stark familiy will be introduced except Sansa? Will she be the daughter that will appear out of nowhere in a second episode?
AngeloBQuote Reply
I think that all of the kids will probably be “unkowns”, as with most of the cast.
dizzyQuote Reply
Wasn’t Sansa, like, 12, when Game of Thrones started. She didn’t even get her period til somewhere in the 2nd or 3rd book. Why are you listing 19 and 15 year olds?
AnonymousQuote Reply
AngeloB: Yeah, it could be jarring to the uninitiated. But right now, according to the pilot script I read, she really is relegated to nothing but a background character. She is talked about plenty though, so I don’t think it will seem like she came out of nowhere.
Anon: It is likely that they will be casting someone slightly older than the age she is listed at in the script (13). This is due to being able to more easily find a better actor as well as being able to avoid some child labor laws. So 15 is about what we can expect.
I agree 19 is way too old, I only included Hurd-Wood since she has been talked about for the role more than any of the others. I highly doubt she will get it.
WinterIsComingQuote Reply
Of the four actresses offered in this blog, only Richards and Boynton look young enough. Given the age of the character, I can’t fathom why the first two actresses are even in the running.
nomad310Quote Reply
As far as keeping with the ages of the Starks in the books… I really don’t think this will be necessary. It would not surprise me one bit to see Robb and Theon depicted as 21 year olds, and Sansa as say a 19 year old. The range and depth that is written into these characters could simply be too difficult to portray to a modern audience. Like, how many people are going to be crying foul when 13 year old girls have bedroom scenes with older men? It just doesn’t feel like it would play well onscreen.
AnonymousQuote Reply
Sansa will be one of the hardest characters to cast I think. She is supposed to be beautiful, but it will cause many some discomfort when they realize how young she is, even with her aged up. Even trying to judge the older girls shown here based on attractiveness is unsettling for me. I really wish the character didn’t have to be aged, since how George shows it is very realistic for the time period he based it on, and the majority of pre modern societies. But we need to sex (its HBO), and while Sansa doesn’t really start to get in saucy situations till Joff comes to power, if she jumps from a non sexualized kid to nude scenes, the transition would be very odd to say the least. I guess it just shows how books will also trump their derivative visual forms.
As for the girls shown, I don’t know if any are perfect, and the first one is of course way too old. But acting wise is probably key for me, and would pull me in even if she doesn’t look how I thought Sansa would. But having her to old (anything past 16) would be a deal breaker, because she is supposed to be at the very start of marriageable age when she gets married, and she is supposed to be growing up mentally and physically. How they will decide that its time for her to get married (since presumably a 16 year old would already have gotten her period) will be interesting to see.
SteppeMercQuote Reply
I was thinking that Julia Winter would be an excellent Sansa until I saw her IMDB pix. Now I think she’s a good fit for Arya.
We’ll probably need some unknown for Sansa. None of the candidates look nearly pretty enough, and they’re (also) either too old or just freakin’ wrong.
AnonymousQuote Reply
God I hope they don’t cast Dakota Richards. I saw Golden Compass, and her acting is definitely not on the level. In fact, I generally just hated that movie.
AnonymousQuote Reply
Well yeah Golden Compass was bad. Maybe she would have been better if the people making the movie cared at all about the book, and didn’t want to tone down the book’s atheistic message to make money?
SteppeMercQuote Reply
Of the four, only Julia Winter seems to me to be perfect match for the character. She definitely has some beauty in her, the age is OK, she has some experience.
AlcatorQuote Reply
I think that Julia Winter would be the perfect choice for the role. She has the right age and she is pretty enough.
By the way, I can easily imagine Lucy Boynton as Arya than Sansa.
AnonymousQuote Reply
I would be fine with tweaking Sansa’s age a bit to make her older.
TheBluickQuote Reply
Julia Winter simply doesn’t cut it, and she’s the best candidate of the lot. That is saying something.
AnonymousQuote Reply
I was totally fine looking at those photos going ‘yeah, sure she is (or isn’t) Sansa’. Then I realised…no way am I going to be able to see any of these girls get stripped in public. How on earth can they cast a young girl knowing that is going to happen? ‘Excuse me Dakota’s parents, but in three years time do you care if we film your daughters boobies?’ Major script re-write, cast change or serious aging up. None of which sound cool to me (and I don’t usually mind some aging up). Weird… can’t say I envy the casting directors…
AnonymousQuote Reply
well, let’s see. Sansa should be what, 2 years younger than Robb? 3? If they age him up to 17, that makes her 15/14 to begin with. In 3 years, she’d be 17/18 in script.
It will be interesting how they rewrite the period = of age to marry thing and her waiting for it, and of course her following horror, which is really one of the best GRRM writing as woman scenes/aspects. The feeling your body is betraying you can certainly be one of the negative sides of womanhood.
world-dancerQuote Reply
As much as some people won’t like it, Sansa will have to be aged up. Its HBO, but even HBO can’t get away with some stuff. Sansa isn’t stripped until the 2nd book, right? If so I could see them casting a 14/15 year old for the first season, and if makes it to a second season the actress will be older.
All of the Stark children will probably be unknowns, which is probably a good thing in Sansa’s case.
BubbaQuote Reply
I think it more likely that the nude scene will be off-camera, or done such that we don’t see anything. I mean just because it is HBO doesn’t mean they take every opportunity to show nudity, and the taboo associated with this nudity leads me to believe that the scene will exist but the nudity will not.
AnonymousQuote Reply
Dakota Richards reminds me of more of an Arya but that’s probably just becasue of the Golden Compass.
I think some people are expecting the show to be too literal. Sansa can be stripped without us seeing her breasts. If people expect every scene to be so literally translated then we are going to be seeing a lot of Tyrion’s Penis unless it’s “tucked” away in an orifice.
I agree with “winter” in that if she doesn’t have lines in the pilot don’t worry about her. If the show gets greenlit cast her and refilm a couple of scenes in the pilot. It’s like worrying about how to cast Brienne or Tywin. No need.
Playing “pick the actor” is great fun but thinking back on most other HBO shows, they have a great ability to pick unknowns nd make them famous.
red snowQuote Reply
To the people who asked why a girl as old as Rachel Hurd-wood were even suggested, people saw pictures from films were she was younger and in them she had a good look for the part. Pretty redhead looking scared in period dress.
I think they need to keep Sansa a young teenager. Otherwise her character wouldn´t make sense. The intense infatuation with Joffrey. The innocence and fairytales. Betraying Neds plans to Cersei, without realising the context or concequences. And of course her period.
With regards to sansas nudity I don´t think they need to show it. They could rewrite the scene to omit the nudity. They could completely omit the scene, or insert a new scene that had some of the same impact. Or film the scene in a creative way to avoid the child nudity. They have plenty of options. Thats why they probably have a stablefull of creative writers attached. It´s not like the scene is pivotal or anything.
AnonymousQuote Reply
Are you kidding? Tyrion choosing not to have sex with Sansa is a huge scene! The scene where Joff strips her is also very key, as it A. further shows what a dick he is and B. really gets the ball rolling on the whole Hound and Sansa dynamic.
SteppeMercQuote Reply
@SteppeMerc:
I think what the previous anon was saying just saying that, with some creativity, Sansa needn’t be nude at all. There are plenty of humiliating things Joff could do to Sansa that “show what a dick he is”, without requiring nudity on Sansa’s part. And as you said, Tyrion did NOT have sex with Sansa. It would be a simple matter of altering one stage direction and a few lines of dialogue.
Mr. CerealQuote Reply
Hmm Iam pretty sure a 19 year old can pass as a 16 or 15 year old, for examples Dominique Swain (Lolita) or John Hensley (Nip/Tuck).
I believe Rachel Hurd-Wood is excellent, she is drop dead gorgeous (Sansa) plus she can play the role of innocene beautifully (Perfume: The Story of a Murderer)
AnonymousQuote Reply
Julia Winter is my favorite actress ever and she will do a great job as that role!!! I hope she gets the part.
AnonymousQuote Reply
The biggest problem I think that any adaptation this series was ever going to have with live actors was the fact that so many of the leads were children when they start: sansa = 11, arya = 9, bran = 7, jon, dany, rob, and joff = around 13 and 14. casting 17 year olds for prepubescents, while avoiding labor law conflicts and american sensibilities towards underage sexuality, still presents a problem in general for the motivation of many of the characters, since their youth plays a major role in who they are and why and how they do things, and specific polt devices, such as sansa’s womanhood, joffrey’s coming of age, etc. many of other movies and shows have managed to work around the age/labor law issue while managing to maintain the essence of the actor’s age relative to his/her character – harry potter was the best example, until they started filming movies 2 and 3 years apart.
If the shooting schedule starts in a couple years, then those cast need to be within around a year of their character’s age when they start. I’m also interested in who they cast and how they cast the younger versions of the adults in the film for flashbacks. But as most of them are clearly in adolescence, it isn’t as important that they be right on mark for them, just in general. I kind of hate when they cast 25 and 30 year olds for teen parts anyway; they rarely look near young enough. And while I may not be able to buy a 16 year old playing a 13 yea old, i’ll feel it’s more accurate and less insulting than a 27 year old playing a 16 year old, especially since we will watch the younger actors grow as their characters do, physically and emotionally.
AnonymousQuote Reply
Julia Winter is perfect, and she is my favourite actress since many years, I hope to see her playing Sansa.
AnonymousQuote Reply
have you considered that they might use an irish actress for this film? Since its being filmed there?
They might use a less know actress so that the budget is smaller
You never know
Can’t wait to see it come out, its being filmed like 20 minutes away from my house
Maybe I’ll be an extra :) lol
xx
AnonymousQuote Reply
maybe a 16 year old who looks young, to avoid child labour laws, and use makeup to age her gradually?
AnonymousQuote Reply
Having worked with Lucy Boynton before, I can say she has all the natural graces that the character needs. I watched with complete awe at a child who had never taken one lesson in Ballet, pick up all the stept and graceful movements with complete and amazing ease, whilst rehearsing Ballet Shoes. The child you see on screen for that wasn't far removed from the child I met, tho she was more polite in real life, and far less annoying than her character.
Having attended some of the castings for these parts, ahe also falls into the age group they are looking at…(12-15 year olds who can play 13)
I certainly hope she has been seen and considered for the part at least..
AnonymousQuote Reply