Actress Megan Parkinson joins the cast of Game of Thrones Season 7 as a northern girl

Last week, The Daily Mail published photos of several cast members together on the set of Game of Thrones Season 7. They included the likes of Kit Harington, Liam Cunningham, and Gwendoline Christie, so odds were that they were filming material at Winterfell.

Some of the photos included an actress who was identified at the time as a body double for Sophie Turner (Sansa).

Later, the same actress was seen interacting with Kit Harington.

With her red hair and plain, Northern-style garb, the idea that she was Turn’s body double was believable enough. However, a commenter over at fansite Watchers on the Wall has identified her the actress Megan Parkinson. The site concludes that she’s probably playing a new character, rather than a stand-in for Sansa.

For one thing, the costume, while something Sansa might wear, seems a little out of step with the badass embroidered numbers she’s been sporting of late.

Also, the photographer who took the photos published in The Daily Mail took a few more and uploaded them to their Twitter account. One of them shows a crew member fitting a sword belt to Parkinson’s waist. Also notice what looks like the pommel of a sword popping up out of the belt.

Again, it’s not impossible that Sansa would wear a sword belt and a sword—maybe she’s trying to project a more militarized image—but it could also very well be a new character. A casting notice from a while back supports this contention.

Months ago, we reported that the show was casting a 16-year old Northern girl who will be part of “a high-stakes scene with leading cast members.” The production wanted a white girl with a Northern accent. If Parkinson was on set with Harington, Christie, and Cunningham, that would qualify as working with “leading cast members.”

What character are we looking at? That’s harder to tell. Maybe it’s an aged-up version of Wyman Manderly’s daughter Wylla, who gave a rousing speech about loyalty in A Dance with Dragons. Maybe it’s some version of a Alys Karstark. Or maybe it’s someone entirely new. We’ll have to wait and see.

Incidentally, that casting call was also looking for a 10-year-old Northern boy who would appear in the same scene as the girl. That may be who this young man, who was also seen on set, is playing.

Parkinson is from Yorkshire, and will be appearing in TV movies To Walk Invisible and Our Loved Boy.

h/t Keighley News