Sophie Turner on being Sansa Stark 

Sophie Turner graces the cover of the July issue of Nylon Singapore this month, with a feature on being Sansa Stark. We’ve seen a few pictures from the spread recently, but yesterday the full article surfaced online.

In the new interview Sophie talks at length about her portrayal of Sansa Stark and the transformation that her character has gone through, her friendship with Maisie Williams, and her experience working on

It isn’t always easy being Sansa Stark, as much of her story has been told through her silence, but Sophie admits that she enjoys the challenge.

“I really like the fact that she is quite a silent character. If she had spoken up in court at any point she would have gotten herself killed. She is being compliant with the people she hates just so that she can bide her time and then she can actually get her own back. It’s fun because then a lot of the acting is in the face, and not in the words, which is nice for me to experiment with.”

In Season 4 Sophie was able to experiment even more, as Sansa finally escaped King’s Landing and got to start playing a game of her own.

“This season has been really good for me because Sansa has gone from a vulnerable 13-year-old girl, and she is transformed. She has been learning from al these people at court on how to manipulate others and she is actually putting it into practice now. She is becoming a bit of a dark horse.”

“I had this scene in the most recent episode where I had to lie for Littlefinger during his trial, and at the same time, I had to put on a convincing performance. It was quite difficult but it was a lot of fun. We had a great time filming.”

Sophie didn’t always have such a great time with being Sansa Stark, as her character caught a lot of hate during the first season.

“I think it’s because people see their own faults in her character, and they don’t like facing their own weaknesses. I think if anyone was a 13-year-old girl put in her situation, they would probably act exactly the same. When I was younger, Maisie, who plays my sister, and I were in scenes together and people loved her character and they hated mine, and it really used to affect me.”

Sophie and Maisie have become close friends since they started working together on Game of Thrones, but with Arya sailing off the Braavos and Sansa taking on a new persona in the Vale, it’s seeming more unlikely that they’ll get to share a scene again.

“It sucks because she is one of my closest friends, but if that’s the way the story is going to go and it’s going to make a good story, then I’m happy with it. Maybe one day they’ll reunite? It might be leading somewhere, who knows?

Since Sophie was so young when she started on the show, she wasn’t allowed to read the books aside from her own chapters. She says that when the series is over she will go back and read them from start to finish, but it’s hard to know if she would be a fan of the story if she wasn’t involved in it.

“The idea of medieval fantasy never quite intrigued me but I think because there has been a lot of hype about it, I may have watched an episode to see whether it got me. Because you’re in it, you have no outside perspective, so I have no idea if it’s actually a good show or not!”

It’s safe to say that the show is good, and that Sophie has learned quite a lot from being surrounded by experienced actors on such a big production, but she hasn’t let it go to her head.

“It was very strange when I first started, but now it’s very familiar to me and I feel most at home on a film set. My first day filming ever was with Sean Bean, Peter Dinklage and Lena Headey, and a ton of these great actors doing this big scene. It was so daunting with all the cameras around, and I didn’t realize that people would get you what you wanted – I’d ask ‘please may I go and get a bottle of water,’ and they’d go, ‘No, I’ll get it for you,’ and that was very strange. It’s normal now – but I still get my own bottles of water!”

The July issue of Nylon Singapore is on newsstands now.

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She seems almost like Sansa in real life, slightly naive yet in an innocent goodhearted way.

I’m glad she’s beyond being affected by negative reactions towards Sansa.

They are proof she did a great job and she still does a great job !

Am i the only one, who dosent like this wierd red lipstick,pale skin pictures.. ?

This was such a fun interview! She also talked about her other films a bit and how her friends and family aren’t really concerned about her fame.

She also mentioned that if she wasn’t doing acting, she’d be doing ballet as it was a passion of hers along with acting, but she had to quit in order to pursue the latter.

Sophie the ballerina! How cute! Her family’s actually released a few photos of her as a dancer, oddly enough. It suited her. She’s so tall and lean!

Nice comments about Sansa, she and Maisie seem to have such a good grip on their characters! We’re so lucky to have them!

It’s the style now. – my daughter does it. (Very blonde with red red lipstick) and I just think it is strange. Next year it will be something else.

I adore Sophie and think she’s a wonderful Sansa. She’s just so fun and cute, and surprisingly candid in interviews.

She looks taller than 5 ft 9! So she’s playing a teenage evil assassin, well that should increase her popularity ;)

“I think it’s because people see their own faults in her character, and they don’t like facing their own weaknesses. I think if anyone was a 13-year-old girl put in her situation, they would probably act exactly the same.”

“I think it’s because people see their own faults in her character, and they don’t like facing their own weaknesses. I think if anyone was a 13-year-old girl put in her situation, they would probably act exactly the same.”

When I read the books, before seeing the show, I always thought that Sansa would be a hard character to put across as likeable or even to create empathy despite the obvious trauma that she goes through, given that she “lets Arya down” by not speaking up for her after the attack on Joffrey (that was her first lesson really in how the truth and the Stark sense of honour is a two edged sword that can land you in deeper shit).

I think Sophie’s done a great job playing the breaking down of the Fairytale Princess trope given that the character is quite passive and reactive compared to the more obvious feisty charms of Arya and I can’t wait to see what happens with Sansa from series 5 (assuming that we won’t see TWoW first!)

Spot on Sophie. Love the editorial/interview coverage given to her and Maisie, the real stars of tomorrow I guess.

I sometimes feel that some viewers/readers automatically disengage themselves from Sansa’s character because they constantly compare her to Arya, why would George create sisters with the same personalities? Sansa’s passive nature can be grating at times, but clearly Mr Martin is building her up for the long haul, at least I hope. Slow and steady wins the race, and come TWOW, and given the evidence from Season 4 of GoT, Sansa will regain some agency and become proactive!

why would George create sisters with the same personalities?

One could almost say, two sisters; one made from ice and the other from fire ;)

Will the make-up people stop uglifying Sophie who is a naturally gorgeous woman?

In both A Game of Thrones and the first half of the first season of GoT I didn’t like Sansa either. Not because I was afraid to look at my own weakness, but because she was a whiny, ‘someday my prince will come type’ who had no idea that the world isn’t all sunshine and lemon cakes. It’s tragic what the character had to go through to learn that.

And those are all the reasons Ayra is one of my (and most of everybody’s fav out of the two) is because she was never like that, kind of aware that the world is not a nice place, but not enough to really make an inform decision. And it was also her basic bucking of authority that endeared Arya to me. Such a little badass/Punky type, doesn’t much if any crap from anybody. And if she does, then those that wronged will get their comeuppance in the end, and now they won’t even see it coming.

I am pretty elated to be going on tour with Ireland to explore the new Game of Thrones Territory initiative they have. I can’t get over how grown up she is, it seems like only yesterday she was a little girl…

I never heard about the books before I watched the show but my opinion on Sansa was never of hatred. I always thought that her bad decisions were very real and even logical. I mean, she is just a girl right? And to me that made all more realistic and interesting. I think that her saying she didn’t see what happened when Joffrey and Arya were “on trial” (lol) was the best way she could go without betraying any of them. Granted, I’ve never read “A Game of thrones” so it may be that she IS really annoying in the books but in the TV show I didn’t think she was.

I never heard about the books before I watched the show but my opinion on Sansa was never of hatred. I always thought that her bad decisions were very real and even logical. I mean, she is just a girl right? And to me that made all more realistic and interesting.I think that her saying she didn’t see what happened when Joffrey and Arya were “on trial” (lol) was the best way she could go without betraying any of them. Granted, I’ve never read “A Game of thrones” so it may be that she IS really annoying in the books but in the TV show I didn’t think she was.

She can be annoying in the books but all the characters can. I didn’t read any of the books till after I watched Season 1 and while I really liked Sansa from the get, I could see how she isn’t the easiest to root for. She’s makes foolish choices but so much of her character is wrapped up in what is going on in her head, as oppose to actions. As a reader/watcher, we assume our decisions would be different but Sophie is right. She’s a 14 (15 at this point?) and was totally naive to the world she was brought into. She’s learning and growing and coming into her own. It’s thrilling to read and watch. Sophie does a great job letting Sansa’s vulnerability, of which she is turning into strength, shine through with a well-timed comment or look. Sansa is learning a powerful lesson in control and I like to believe, in the end, she will use those lessons for the good, as oppose to for power. I don’t think Sansa gives a shit about power, those childhood dreams of being Queen can suck it. But you can take it to the bank…Sansa’s compassion and honor, once considered a weakness, will be what helps rally support for the North. Bravo Sophie for doing such a great job bringing this young lady to life.

I can’t imagine how bad Sansa would be if anyone else was playing her. Sophie has such good timing and her mannerisms are so accurate. If they’d gotten someone who couldn’t pull off the glances and the nonverbal acting… man, I don’t know what I’d do.

Imagine if she used the non verbal creepy expressions the twilight cast seemed to have mastered LOL.

It would have been soooo sad lol. Sansa’s emotions and character are summed in a lot of those glances, if they were cheesy… I probably would have lost faith so quickly.

And booth of those things are just a dangerous just in different ways ;)

I have to admit, I really disliked Sansa for her treatment of her siblings. Pretty much the first time Sansa speaks in the books:

Sansa sighed as she stitched. “Poor Jon,” she said. “He gets jealous because he’s a bastard.”

“He’s our brother,” Arya said, much too loudly. Her voice cut through the afternoon quiet of the tower room.

Septa Mordane raised her eyes. She had a bony face, sharp eyes, and a thin lipless mouth made for frowning. It was frowning now. “What are you talking about, children?”

“Our half brother,” Sansa corrected, soft and precise. She smiled for the septa. “Arya and I were remarking on how pleased we were to have the princess with us today,” she said.

Maybe she doesn’t hate Jon like Catelyn but makes a point to isolate him from their family. She also treats Arya and Eddard like shit because she might not get to marry her perfect prince Joff.

I know people say she is 13 but spoiled bratty girls like that usually maintain a snobby attitude(at least in my experience).

That being said since her illusions have been shattered I hold out hope she treats people good regardless of status

On the contrary, Sansa is one of my favourite characters in the books starting with the end of the first book, but I first found her really interesting early in the first book in a great scene with the Hound – the way she reacted in that scene – which wasn’t in the show, one of the many times the show robbed Sansa of some great scenes and cut out or watered down some 70% of her material, making her appear far less interesting in the show than she is in the books. She is already difficult to portray on screen without the internal monologue, but they didn’t have to cut out so many of the scenes where she actually has does stuff or has meaningful conversations with people, or replace it with other scenes that make her look stupid or are about showing how supposedly cool someone else is (Shae, Tyrion, Margaery). Sophie’s great acting was often the only thing saving show! Sansa, especially in season 3, when the writing for her was so bad, whereas her corresponding chapters in the third book were great. They’ve only started to write her better in the latest season and allowed her to really have a story.

She totally looks gorgeous on that pic but I prefer her normal face because she looks very pale and weird, still beautiful tho’.

Starting season 4 her story became super interesting I didn’t like her in season 1 but now starting s3-present she’s my most fav character (replacing Arya).

Yes, I love her pale skin with that red lipstick! I’d love to have a piece of that hot pie ;)

Most beautiful woman in all of Westeros & future Queen of 7 realms. Sansa Stark will ultimately win The Iron Throne. [The Younger more beautiful Queen: Sansa ]

And Sansa will see Arya once more when she returns to Winterfell and finds Aryas dead body in the snow with needle in her hand.

~ You’ll be sewing all through winter. When the spring thaw comes, they will find your body with a needle still locked tight between your frozen fingers

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