Sophie Turner discusses the significance of Sansa Stark’s hair

Game of Thrones offers viewers a lot of reasons to watch. Drama. Action. Romance. But the most important thing is hair. From Daenerys’ platinum locks to Jon Snow’s season 6 man bun, Game of Thrones has always played a strong hair game, and the stylists and producers have always put a lot of thought into their follicle-related decisions.

Or at least that’s what Sophie Turner (Sansa Stark said when talking to Refinery29 about Sansa’s various hairstyles. “There’s always a pattern,” she said. “It’s never random.”

Turner, who just scored a gig as a brand ambassador for Wella Professionals, said that Sansa’s hair is constantly being influenced by the people she’s with. “When she’s Cersei’s prisoner, and she’s kind of absorbing all her manipulative techniques, it’s reflected in her hairstyle,” she said. “[A]nd when she’s finding the spirit of Margaery in herself, she wears her hair like Margaery.”

Her favorite look, however, was one Sansa adopted after Littlefinger smuggled her out of King’s Landing. “I’ve always liked when Sansa’s hair was dyed black and pulled back in very tight, taut French braids,” she says. “It was her own look, and something that she’d created.”

If you think Sansa’s hair looks a little different in photos from season 7, that’s because it’s a wig. Turner, a natural blonde, dyed her hair red for years, but brought back the blonde last year for a role in Huntsville, where she plays an Alabamian teenager. “It was such a different character for me, so I wanted to completely transform myself, and the hair was the icing on the cake,” she told Vogue. The change necessitated a new approach for season 7, and caught some Game of Thrones fans unawares.

"People seemed to think it was a spoiler for Game of Thrones. It was kind of quite flattering really, because when I first started, a lot of people didn’t like that I changed my hair to blonde, they were attached to the red on the show, which only adds to why I think hair is so important [in role development]—it ignites a connection that people feel with the character."

Considering how much Sansa’s hair tends to reflect what she’s going through, we’ll be keeping a close eye on how it evolves during seasons 7 and 8. At this point, her hair choices basically amount to spoilers.

Jan 29, 2017; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Sophie Turner arrives at the 23rd Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards at the Shrine Auditorium. Credit: Dan MacMedan-USA TODAY NETWORK

And what’s next for Sophie Turner…’s hair? As she tells People, she’s had limited options during her time on Game of Thrones. “[Y]ou’re not really allowed to cut it,” she said, “you’re not really allowed to do very much with it because getting back to that certain color and style and shape without getting extensions and things, I haven’t really been able to have much kind of creative freedom over it.”

"One day I’ll probably go crazy with it. I’d kind of be down to dye it kind of gray-ish. Maybe even go shoulder length. I’d have to ease myself into it. I wouldn’t go straight into any bright colors anytime soon but I’d love to."

Sansa with shoulder-length grey hair? We’re not sure we’re emotionally ready that kind of change.

Next: We break down the second trailer for Game of Thrones season 7 using dozens of GIFs

For now, we’ll take her as a red head when season 7 debuts on July 16.