Game of Thrones fans still remember the controversial assault scene between Sansa Stark and Ramsay Bolton, which sparked intense controversy.
Years after the show’s finale, actor Sophie Turner, who portrayed role of Sansa Stark, has opened about her thoughts on the backlash that followed, particularly regarding the depiction of sexual abuse.
Sophie defends the controversial scene
Turner reflected back on working on popular show Game of Thrones during an interview with Flaunt where she also spoke about the scene in which her character was sexually assaulted by her husband. She said she still believes the show was “actually doing a lot of justice to women.”
Turner said, “I did feel – and still do – that Game of Thrones shone a light on things that many people were like, ‘Oh god, you can’t show that kind of thing’ – and I understand it can be triggering – I totally understand that point of view. But I did feel we were actually doing a lot of justice to women and the fight women have had to fight for hundreds of thousands of years – the patriarchy, being treated as objects, and being constantly sexually assaulted – I don’t think there’s one woman I know who hasn’t had a form of that.”
She added, “I think if Game of Thrones came out today, we’d definitely put some trigger warnings on there. But I’m really proud to have been a part of Game of Thrones where they didn’t shy away from showing atrocities that happened to women back then. I feel proud to have been part of the conversation.”
More about the controversial scene
Sophie Turner starred on all eight seasons of the HBO series as Sansa Stark. She was at the center of one of the show’s biggest controversies when Sansa was raped on her wedding night in Season 5.
In the controversial Season 5 episode which was titled “Unbowed, Unbent, Unbroken”, Sansa Stark endured a lot of physical and emotional violence at the hands of her husband, Ramsay Bolton (Iwan Rheon). The episode featured Ramsay sexually assaulting Sansa after their wedding as Sansa’s former childhood friend, Theon, was forced to watch.
The scene prompted outrage on social media as it was not a storyline Sansa had in the Game of Thrones books. The viewers accused the show of going overboard when it came to depicting violence against women.
What’s next for Sophie Turner
Sophie Turner was most recently seen in mystery thriller, Trust, which premiered on August 22. The film follows Lauren Lane, a rising Hollywood actor who escapes to a remote cabin after she’s embroiled in a controversy. Her quest for peace changes for the worse when she discovers she is not alone and is trapped in a sinister survival game. Carlson Young has directed the film, which also stars Rhys Coiro, Billy Campbell, Peter Mensah, Forrest Goodluck, Gianni Paolo, Renata Vaca, and Katey Sagal. After Trust, Turner is expected to be in two more titles, Steal and The Dreadful.