During Game of Thrones’ sometimes controversial fifth season, some fans expressed outrage when Sansa was forced to have sex with her new husband in front of Theon Greyjoy on their wedding night. The divisive scene was considered to be hard to watch by some and gratuitous by others, and many have questioned its inclusion on Game of Thrones. Sophie Turner, who plays Sansa on the hit series, explained during a San Diego Comic-Con panel why she personally thinks her character didn’t fight during the big wedding night scene.
She’s not stupid, she didn’t just think, “Alright then, this is gonna happen.” She thought it through in her head. She could have fought back if she wanted to, but she didn’t. And I think that's, you know, it's good for her character. She's one of those characters that kind of does her scheming in her mind, rather than outwardly.
The episode in question followed Sansa’ wedding night. She married Ramsay Bolton in the Godswood outside of Winterfell. After the wedding, he took her up to a bedroom and finally showed his true colors to Sansa. Ramsay's new wife was shoved onto a bed, her dress was ripped open and Ramsay took her by force. To make matter worse, he told Reek/Theon he must watch.
Turner also reaffirmed that she feels Sansa is still a strong character despite all that has happened to her, having learned from the likes of Cersei, Margaery and others. She even joked about the fact that the camera stuck with Theon while she was crushing her acting performance. So, maybe she didn’t really get enough credit for her decision-making during the scene.
There's one thing that Sansa still is, despite what happened to her, it's strong. She’s not to blame for any of that. I really don’t know why they focused on Theon, because I was giving a great performance.
Formerly, Sansa has come out and said she enjoyed filming the intense Ramsay-Theon-Sansa scene, noting that Sansa didn’t even really know what was coming to her on her wedding night.
I kind of like the fact she doesn’t really know what a psycho he is until that night. She has a sense, but she’s more scared of his father. And then that night everything gets so fucked up.
However you interpret the scene, Sansa will hopefully have plenty of opportunities to prove her mettle when HBO’s Game of Thrones returns to the schedule in 2016. The actors are returning to set to begin filming the new episodes this month, and we already know a few juicy tidbits about the upcoming Season 6. You can check out what we know, here.
The full Comic-Con pan is available for viewing on the next page.
