'Game of Thrones' Showrunner Explains Sansa's Major Change in Season 8

From the end of summer to the start of winter, the land of Westeros has seen a lot of changes over the course of seven seasons on Game of Thrones. With the eighth and final season arriving, the showrunners of the popular HBO series have looked back to reflect on the evolution of its characters.

Executive Producers David Benioff and D.B. Weiss have charted the journeys for Houses Stark, Targaryen, and Lannister since the beginning. Now the duo have opened up to Entertainment Weekly, revealing who they think has gone through the most change since the series started in 2011.

"Sansa," said Benioff. "She started out so naive and was forced to undergo the most brutal possible education into the world but emerged from it and became this powerful figure and kind of against all odds. I don't think too many people watching the first season had any expectation that Sansa would become the woman that she became."

Benioff added, "And part of that is the story and part of that is Sophie Turner and the phenom she turned out to be as an actress. We knew when we cast Sophie that she was this really good child actor but we had no idea she'd become the force that's she's become. So if I had to pick one, I'd pick Sansa."

There's no debating Sansa's growth over the course of the series. The child who wanted to be queen was put through many horrific trials, from being attached to both two of the worst humans in all of Westeros between Joffrey Baratheon and Ramsay Bolton. But the surviving Lady Stark managed to maneuver and rise to a prominent position of power, taking back her ancestral home and earning the respect of her fellow lords in the North.

We'll see if Sansa will take the final prize and sit on the Iron Throne as the final season of Game of Thrones continues on Sundays on HBO.

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