With the Game of Thrones series finale still fresh on our minds, seeing Sophie Turner move on from Sansa Stark to Jean Grey in less than a month is destined to attract comparisons. Ahead of the next X-Men film’s summer release, Turner has noticed some similarities between her two most-talked-about roles. Check out what she said:
I'm always drawn to strong, independent women and Sansa and Jean are both that. They eventually use all of these terrible things that happened to them and they become incredibly strong women.
That’s right! Over the years on Game of Thrones, fans have quite literally watched Sophie Turner’s Sansa Stark grow up from being a naive “little bird” to a powerful presence in Winterfell who answers to no one and owns her tragic life experiences. Jean Grey emits a somewhat similar energy as a member of the X-Men, who becomes haunted by her new powers and must fight for herself in Dark Phoenix.
However, Sophie Turner explained that Sansa is more self-assured than Jean is in the upcoming flick, who will grapple with her identity and place in the world after being hit by a solar flare and gaining new energy she doesn’t quite know what to do with.
In the HBO interview, Sophie Turner also compared the two franchises’ ability to be grounded in real emotion and human connection, despite being ridden with fantastical elements such as fire-breathing dragons and blue beasts. She also imagined Jean Grey in the world of Game of Thrones with these words:
If the world’s were to collide, I think Jean would probably be a Targaryen. She’s the Phoenix. She rises from the ashes just like Daenerys does at the end of season one. It’s all about fire, baby!
The comparison certainly fits! Emilia Clarke’s Daenerys famously walks through the circle of fire in the beginning of the series and rises with the strength of the Mother of Dragons. Jean Grey will take a similar journey in Dark Phoenix while the team is on a space mission to save some astronauts.
In Dark Phoenix, Jean absorbs a new energy that has her bursting into flames and causing some damage to the X-Men team. When they try to control her, she seems to find herself at a divide between the X-Men and Jessica Chastain’s character.
Also much like Game of Thrones, Dark Phoenix will mark the end of a long-running franchise and may wrap up the stories of characters fans have been following for years. The X-Men movies have been going on for almost 20 years, along with Jean Grey’s storyline, and this movie will presumably close it out now that the Disney/Fox merger has been completed.
Dark Phoenix hits theaters on June 7, alongside The Secret Life of Pets 2, the latter tracking to win the weekend over the superhero flick.
Are you excited to see Sophie Turner reprise her X-Men role in Dark Phoenix? Let us know in the comments below.
