Sophie Turner Never Expected Sansa’s Game of Thrones Ending

When it comes to the ending of Game of Thrones, to say that there have been some strong reactions would be an understatement. For many fans, the ending of the wildly popular HBO series — and indeed, the final season in its entirety — was a controversial one. That includes how Sansa Stark‘s (Sophie Turner) story concluded. In the end, it was not Sansa who sat on the Iron Throne. Instead, she returned to Winterfell and was crowned Queen in the North. While it was an ending fans didn’t see coming it’s also one that Turner herself never expected. The actress says that the moment she read the final scene is one that she really can’t describe.

In one of the behind-the-scenes features included on the Game of Thrones Season 8 Blu-ray being released next week, Turner describes reading the final scene and coming to know Sansa’s fate, though it sounds like much of her reaction was less about Sansa’s story and more about the fact that she never thought the final scene would actually come.

“I can’t really describe the moment I read the final scene,” Turner said. “I think it was just so overwhelming and I kind of kept reading and re-reading and re-reading and I felt a bit numb afterwards because I never thought I would be reading the final scene.”

Given the long-running nature of the show and considering how much story there was to tell — George RR Martin still hasn’t released the next book in the series, after all — and the fact that beloved characters were never guaranteed to survive the series, the idea that Turner never expected to be reading the final scene of the whole series makes quite a bit of sense. When it comes to the actual story-related ending for Sansa, Turner has previously stated that she found that to be “the most satisfying ending.”

“Since she got to King’s Landing in Season One, she never wanted that Iron Throne,” Turner explained earlier this year. “She never wanted to rule over that many people… I think, watching how this character finished on Game of Thrones was the most satisfying ending.”

“I love the way that Sansa’s journey ended,” she continued. “I think it was kind of the one thing that she wanted throughout the whole show…to be home and to be where she felt most safe and comfortable and that’s Winterfell. She’s totally capable of leading those people.”

Game of Thrones Season 8 will be released on DVD, Blu-ray, and 4K Ultra HD on December 3.