The seventh season of "Game of Thrones" served as a stepping stone for the character of Sansa, played by Sophie Turner, to prove that she had what it takes to become a powerful figure in Westeros. With the season 8 production ongoing, the actress little time to spare to talk about Sansa's future in the HBO epic fantasy series, as well as to confirm that the show will have a one-year hiatus.
In an interview with Variety, Turner revealed that "Game of Thrones" season 8 will introduce big changes for Sansa, which she has to endure in order to protect her family and Winterfell. Winterfell is the kingdom in the North that the Stark siblings have just reclaimed last season. Specifically, Sansa will need to think and act for herself, now that Littlefinger (Aidan Gillen) is out of the picture.
"This season, there's a new threat, and all of a sudden she finds herself somewhat back in the deep end. And without Littlefinger, it's a test for her of whether she can get through it," Turner said. Even though Littlefinger had always acted on his own and manipulated everyone around him for his own benefit, he still gave Sansa some great pieces of advice to help her in making the difficult decisions for the North.
Meanwhile, Turner also talked about "Game of Thrones" season 8 veering away from a political atmosphere, as she described Sansa's future fight to become a "passionate" one rather than a "manipulative kind of fight." There are speculations that the emerging threat next season has no interest in conquering kingdoms, particularly the white walkers that only aim to turn every living person in Westeros as a reanimated corpse. As for Turner, an "existential" kind of threat in season 8 has yet to be confirmed.
Speaking of Gillen's deceased character, Turner stated that the most notable turning point for Sansa in "Game of Thrones" season 7 is when she connived with her sister Arya (Maisie Williams) behind Littlefinger's back, which ultimately caused the latter's execution. This scene shows how much Sansa has learned from Littlefinger all these years, which the character can use against her family's enemies in season 8.
In the same interview, Turner unknowingly confirmed that "Game of Thrones" season 8 will enter a one-year break before returning in 2019. Talking about her career plans in the coming years, the actress said that the eighth season of "Game of Thrones" will be out in 2019, while her upcoming feature film, "X-Men: Dark Phoenix," will be released in November next year.
As reported by Trusted Reviews, there is still hope that "Game of Thrones" season 8 will have a late 2018 premiere, given that the production already began in October this year. However, other reports suggest that the last phase of production could extend well into August 2018, meaning that the season 8 premiere will happen sometime in early 2019.
