Throughout the course of Game of Thrones‘ run on the small screen, one character that has grown into a magnetic and compelling screen presence is that of Sophie Turner’s Sansa Stark. Whether it’s through her taut relationship with Joffrey or the ways in which she survived day-to-day life in King’s Landing, the role only helps to showcase Turner’s innate, blossoming talent, and according to the actress herself, it’s this juicy character that helped land her the role of a young Jean Grey in Bryan Singer’s X-Men: Apocalypse.
Speaking to IGN ahead of the return of Game of Thrones in April, Turner touched upon the nature of the mutant persona, and how she intends to draw upon Famke Janssen’s performance for inspiration.
“I think maybe one of the reasons that they chose me for [Jean] is because they saw the dark side of Sansa,” she said. “Maybe they’re thinking, ‘Oh, Phoenix, Jean Grey.’ I definitely see a lot of parallels in there. [Jean] struggles with her power… and not being accepted in the human world. I think in terms of [Game of Thrones], that’s kind of the way Sansa felt in that she really wanted to be a normal princess/queen and live a normal life — and she doesn’t, because of all this havoc happens. I think Jean, in a way, feels that.”
At the time of writing, X-Men: Apocalypse is still simmering in pre-production ahead of the project’s April start date. Therefore, Turner didn’t have much else to share in terms of plot details or how the sequel will tell the arc of Jean Grey. Nevertheless, we’ll have all the information pertaining to Bryan Singer’s much-anticipated continuation here for you first when we learn more.
X-Men: Apocalypse isn’t scheduled to arrive in theaters until May 27, 2016, but those eager to see Sophie Turner return to action can look forward to the return of Game of Thrones come April 8.