As Game of Thrones writer David Benioff said in a recent Deadline interview, “ the pieces are on the board now.” The conditions are in place for the final conflict that will close the grand narrative arc of HBO’s remarkable fantasy series.
“We’ve known the end for quite some time and we’re hurtling towards it. Those last images from the show that aired last night showed that,” Benioff told Deadline. “Daenerys is finally coming back to Westeros; Jon Snow is king of the North and Cersei is sitting on the Iron Throne. And we know the Night King is up there, waiting for all of them.”
But there are still a few wild cards: the characters not after the Iron Throne who are just beginning to come into their own. Most prominent in Game of Thrones Season 6 are the Stark children. Other than Jon Snow, the Starks are not players in what Tyrion called “the great game,” presumably of thrones. But they have the power to change the future of Westeros — Arya with her murder, Bran with time travel and Sansa with her political machinations.
Sophie Turner, who plays Sansa Stark on Game of Thrones spoke to The Hollywood Reporter about her character’s newfound political savvy, the potential for Sansa to turn treacherous (like her mentor Littlefinger) and even the possibility of a marriage to Jon Snow to form a Northern power couple.
While most of us were ecstatic to see Ramsay Bolton get his face eaten by his own dogs in Game of Thrones Season 6 episode 9, Turner pointed out the moment might also indicate Sansa’s dark turn.
“ But I think what people should be maybe a bit wary of is how much she seemed to enjoy it,” Turner said. “I think Sansa could maybe develop a taste for killing. Who knows. It could be a little worrying, for sure.”
Turner foresees an even more politically savvy Sansa in Game of Thrones Season 7. It’s even possible that her horrible experiences over previous seasons and disagreements with Jon Snow could lead to a schism between the two Stark children.
“I think Sansa trusts Jon to make morally right decisions, but I’m not sure if she trusts him with the kind of political things,” Turner said. “I think Jon means they need to be more open with each other and tell each other what’s going on — and it’s very frustrating for Sansa to hear him say that. She knows he means it more about her than it is him talking about himself.”
Though Jon’s political star is on the rise (he was declared King in the North during the Game of Thrones Season 6 finale), Sansa witnessed firsthand how rashly Jon acted, even after she tried to warn him about Ramsay Bolton’s trap.
“He’s getting all of the credit for basically Sansa saving his ass. Obviously he played a huge part in the Battle of the Bastards, but Sansa really saved him. There’s a bit of jealousy there,” Turner said. “I don’t think she’s gunning for the Iron Throne anytime soon, but she realizes that Littlefinger might be a better ally than she thought, a more trustworthy ally than she thought.”
But Turner made the most interesting Sansa prediction in an interview with Variety, when asked about the possibility of Sansa marrying Jon Snow (not that outlandish in Westeros, where the former royal family practiced incestual marriage for hundreds of years). “I haven’t actually heard that. Stranger things on Game of Thrones have happened,” Turner said. “Maybe politically, it makes sense, I honestly don’t know how I would feel about that.”
Instead, Turner had her own preferred prediction for the last two seasons of Game of Thrones. “Honestly, what I think is going to happen – and I don’t know where the story is going to go, but I think Jon and Daenerys are going to end up together, probably.”
