Sophie Turner, Kit Harington and Aidan Gillen on the rise of Sansa Stark

The character of Sansa Stark has undergone perhaps the most dramatic transformation of any character on HBO’s Game of Thrones. Sophie Turner, Kit Harington and Maise Williams talked with USA Today about her turbulent rise to power.

Last season, we saw the long-suffering Sansa negotiate an alliance with Littlefinger and his Knights of the Vale in order to save Jon Sow’s bacon at the Battle of the Bastards. We watched her enjoy the gory death of Ramsay Bolton, her abuser. Power, political and otherwise, is new to Sansa, and she seems to like it: “It’s only in the past couple of seasons that we’ve seen her (Sansa) become a leader in her own right,” Turner says, “and emerge as quite a powerful force in the game.”

Kit Harington (Jon Snow) is also aware of Sansa’s new importance to the story. “That’s who Sansa is going to be in the future,” he says. “She’s as brutal as any of them. Before, she was a victim in many ways. Now, she is very much a protagonist, someone who’s driving the story.”

Turner doesn’t think Sansa wants to be the queen of Westeros. But she does think Sansa “believes she deserves a bit of respect for saving everyone’s life, which I think is reasonable.”

"She doesn’t necessarily feel stripped of the title she deserves, but she definitely feels underappreciated."

Turner was only 13 years old when she was selected to play Sansa, and has grown up with the character. “She went from being the young, innocent girl who saw the world through rose-tinted glasses,” says Turner, “and transitioned to being a prisoner but also a listener, adapting under the watchful eye of her captors.”

“Game of Thrones has been amazing,” Turner says. “It’s been the biggest drama class I could have ever hoped for, but it’s also been an incredible platform. It’s got a huge amount of visibility.” That visibility has paid off big time for her career. She’s currently filming her second X-Men movie (X-Men: Dark Phoenix, where she plays the title character), and has leading roles in upcoming films like Time Freak and Huntsville, as well.

Harington speaks glowingly of the young girl he watched develop into a woman over the course of the show: “It’s crazy going from having this 13-year-old girl that you feel protective over, who’s sweet and innocent and keeps running up to you and telling you not to smoke, and then watching (her) grow over the years into a fascinating, intelligent, incredibly funny and witty young woman.”

Looking back, Turner remembers being unfazed by working with some of the big-name actors on set, like Sean Bean.

"I was probably just coming out of that phase, at 13, where dressing up and sword-fighting was really exciting. I was part of a theater company … and I probably played it a million times with friends on stage."

Turner was not completely ready for some of the adult content, however. “It was only the sex, probably, that kind of shocked me a little. I didn’t really know what to make of it. I didn’t know you could do half the stuff that they say in the script.”

Turner says it was tremendous to have Maisie Williams (Arya) around with her on set, since they were both young women facing the same kinds of unique challenges. “She’s been my rock, and I think I’ve been hers. She’s kind of my sister, my best friend, my soulmate.” Turner and Williams both have the same tattoo — 07/08/09, the date they signed up for their roles on Game of Thrones — on their arms.

Turner won’t spill the beans on the possibility of a Sansa/Arya reunion in season 7, but if it did happen, she would be thrilled. “[T]hey’d work amazingly as a team.”

Right now, Sansa has to work with Jon and Petyr “Littlefinger” Baelish. Actor Aidan Gillen, who plays Baelish, says that his character has “been taking Sansa under his wing and watching her grow into this formidable — and less readable — player. They are equals now, almost. I think they both know what the other is up to.”

It looks like season 7 will open with Jon Snow and Littlefinger in some kind of alliance, however shaky, with Sansa in the middle. But does Turner think Littlefinger might be the better ticket to ride? “You see (Littlefinger) giving Sansa almost an ‘I-told-you-so’ look,” Turner says of the moment in the season 6 finale when Jon Snow was declared King in the North. “I think she knows he (Littlefinger) can get her to that place of recognition she doesn’t feel she’s getting,” Turner says. “He came through when she needed him at the Battle of the Bastards. He’s proven himself to her and she’s thinking, ‘Well, maybe we are a good team after all.’”

No matter what, Turner believes that Sansa, the survivor, has what it takes to make it all the way: “She made it through Ramsay, Littlefinger, Cersei, Joffrey. I think she can make it through this.”

Turner has been teasing Sansa’s dilemma all over, including with an interview in W Magazine. “This season is about trust and loyalty,” she said.

"Now that she’s became a leader, she has Winterfell, she has her home, she has her brother. She’s got to the point where she has that power that she’s been longing for. And the ability to kind of hopefully bring the people that she loves back to her or create a safe haven if they do come back to her. It’s more about her figuring out how to treat that power and how to surround herself with the people that are best for her."

Things are getting complicated in Sansa’s world.

Next: Kit Harington: Don’t look for closure in Game of Thrones season 7

Before we go, here’s a quick hit with Nathalie Emmanuel, who stopped by Moviephone to tease MIssandei’s adventures in season 7.

“I’d be very cautious in what I said, but obviously, I think it’s been very clear that it’s all sort of coming to a head now.” Emmanuel says. “Everything that we’ve been working up to for the last six seasons. In terms of Missandei, like her role as advisor to Daenerys just keeps growing. She has her own things to deal with this season, too. And the reality of this impending war that’s coming is very, very real for her for many reasons. So yeah, we get to sort of see that unfold too, which is cool.”