Game of Thrones’ Most Controversial Scene Defended by Series Star: “I Feel Proud”

In hindsight, the uncut violence, gore, and psychological horror of Game of Thrones has become a bit of a meme, with the show itself serving as shorthand for over-the-top media. However, while the show was airing as the biggest TV sensation of the decade, its moments like those were genuinely shocking to viewers, often triggering big responses from the audience and repeatedly leading critics to question what was gratuitous and what was authentic to the story. This wasn’t confined to the early seasons, either — the series’ endless quest to “subvert expectations” meant that we continued to see surprises right up until the last minute.

The depiction of sexual assault in Season 5 may be the most infamous case of these late-game shocks. Here, Petyr Baelish (Aidan Gillen) offers an unwilling Sansa Stark (Sophie Turner) to a rival for a political marriage, putting her at the mercy of the sadistic Ramsay Bolton (Iwan Rheon). His attack on her is graphic, and was heavily criticized at the time, but in a new interview with Flaunt, Turner said that she still believes it generated some productive discourse.

“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,” the actress said. “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.”

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Turner pointed out that many people still have misconceptions about the prevalence of sexual violence, “And that’s because we don’t [talk about] it enough — we shy away from it,” she said. “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.”

Turner even said that she hopes to continue pushing the envelope in future work, hopefully with more surprising social statements. “I do like to make things that people can walk away from and they feel able to change something about themselves or feel inspired to do something. I want to do more unusual stories — I want to do more A24-type projects where they’re super unique and very niche.”

Turner may have found her chance for another shocking yet thoughtful performance in her new movie Trust, which just hit theaters this weekend. She plays an actress whose private explicit photos are leaked without consent, attempting to hide from the scandal at a remote cabin when she is attacked in her refuge. The movie is playing now, and Game of Thrones is streaming on HBO Max.