Growing Up On Game Of Thrones

Like Her Character, Sansa Stark, the Young Star Has Learned a Thing or Two About Fierceness.

- Mia McNiece

When 12-year-old Sophie Turner auditioned for the role of Sansa Stark during a Game of Thrones nationwide casting call, she had no idea what lay ahead. At the time, she was a middle school student living in the small English village of Chesterton, and “I didn’t know HBO, I didn’t know Game of Thrones, I didn’t know George R.R. Martin—I barely knew what TV was,” she recalled of the experience. Now, nine years later, Turner, 21, has not only stayed alive on the fictional continent of Westeros, with its white walkers, Wildlings and fire-breathing dragons, she has also calmly navigated her way through the equally daunting world of Hollywood.

As the biggest show on television airs its penultimate season, Turner says she and Sansa have both been on an epic journey. “We’ve been through so much together,” she says. “Everything that’s happened makes her who she is today. I can relate.” Indeed, just as the regal Sansa has grown stronger, shrewder and less naive over the years, so has Turner.