Going into Game of Thrones Season 6, there’s a lot of scrutiny surrounding Sansa Stark. The character became a lightning rod last season after Ramsay Bolton raped her on their wedding night. Sophie Turner, who plays Sansa, touched on that controversy, as well as several other topics, in a wide-ranging interview with the Wall Street Journal. Check out the video below, and then we break down the highlights.
- After the past five seasons have seen characters spread out, “Season 6 feels like everything is kind of coming together and storylines intertwining and people are forming alliances…and everyone’s kind of coming towards the same goal.”
- “This season is about her taking charge and being a leader rather than just a pawn in someone else’s game…she’s really gonna thrive this season.”
- Turner discusses the confusion over whether Sansa survived her jump off Winterfell’s ramparts. As in the books, she lived because she landed in a big pile of snow. If the producers wanted to avoid confusion, maybe they should have shown us…you know, a big pile of snow. Instead we got this:
- But anyway. The producers keep the cast pretty much in the dark about their characters’ fate, and when they do drop hints, they can be misleading. For example, ahead of Season 5, producers told Turner that Sansa would have a “love interest.” It ended up being Ramsay Bolton, not exactly a love interest any young woman would have in mind.
- Turner weighed in on the scene where Ramsay rapes Sansa, saying that it was part and parcel of the show to go to that place. “It would almost feel like an injustice if we saw it though rose-tinted glasses and made it a fairy-tale version of what it would have been.” She also gently chided people who were criticizing the scene but not paying attention to real-world “big issues,” by which I assume rape and domestic violence. “Guys, let’s focus on something that really matters here. This is a TV show.”
- Turner calls Game of Thrones “a feminist show,” pointing out that it depicts various female characters breaking out of social restrictions placed on them.
- Wall Street Journal: “Are we going to have Red Wedding-style shocks…when we watch this new season?” Turner: “Yes…there are huge shocks this season.” Okay, then. Speaking more generally, she calls Season 6 the best one yet, and says that “it’s really going to blow people’s minds and fans are going to be very happy.”
- And then, Turner discussed what she wants for Sansa in the future. “I don’t want to survive. I want Littlefinger to end up on the throne…If you’re on Game of Thrones and you don’t have a cool death scene, then what’s the point? I think it would be really disappointing if I got to the end I was just okay.”
I think she was talking in jest a bit here, but on Game of Thrones, anything is possible.