CHARACTER · GAME OF THRONES
Sansa Stark
- Appears in
- Game of Thrones (2011)
- Played by
- Sophie Turner
24 archived facts 8 topics 2 sources Last reviewed Oct 2026
Sansa Stark is a character in the TV series Game of Thrones (2011), played by Sophie Turner.
24 Interesting Facts About Sansa Stark
Interesting Facts (4)
- #001
She adopted Zunni, the Northern Inuit dog who played Sansa Stark's dire wolf, Lady, on Game of Thrones (2011).
- #002
In George R. R. Martin's novels, Sansa is only 11 years old at the start of the story. In the HBO adaptation, the producers made the character two years older than in the books; from the fifth season onward, the series diverged markedly from the novels in telling her story.
- #003
In creating Sansa, Martin drew heavily on Elizabeth of York. Both are noblewomen from the north of the kingdom, both lose their fathers early, and both become heirs to their dynasties when their two younger brothers disappear; as a result, both become keystones in the game of political marriage.
- #004
Contains a major spoiler — show
In the novels, Sansa assumes the identity of Petyr Baelish's illegitimate daughter, "Alayne Stone." She does not appear at all in the fifth book, A Dance with Dragons; in March 2015, Martin shared a chapter titled "Alayne" from the still-unpublished sixth book with readers on his own website.
Production Story (2)
- #005
In the novels, there are two separate subplots: in the North, Ramsay is arranged to marry Sansa's best friend Jeyne Poole, who is passed off as "Arya" to solidify the Boltons' hold on the North; the Boltons are aware that she isn't Arya, but they play along with the ruse anyway, since Jeyne grew up at Winterfell and most people don't know what Arya looks like. In the Vale, Littlefinger intends to wed Sansa to Harrold Harding, who will become Lord of the Vale after the sickly Robert Arryn (Robin on the show) dies; Littlefinger hopes that the Vale will be able to take the North back from the Boltons. On the show, these two storylines were merged together from season 2, because the Vale plot was felt to be less relevant, and the writers wanted to keep Sansa involved in the events in the North. Since Jeyne does not have a major role on the show, Sansa became the most suitable marriage choice for Ramsay.
- #006
While most of the show is largely faithful to the books, composite characters did appear. The most prominent was the prostitute Ros (Esmé Bianco), who was a composite of several named (Alayaya, Chataya, Kyra) and unnamed characters from the book series. The plotline of Sansa (Sophie Turner) from the books started to be merged with Jeyne Poole's in season 4, and Gendry on the show (Joe Dempsie) combines elements from the Gendry in the books with Edric Storm, who is also one of Robert's bastards. The characters of the Sand Snakes in season 5 combine elements of several Sand Snakes from the book with Arianne Martell, daughter of prince Doran. Another composite character was the trader Spice King (Nicholas Blane) in Qarth, who appeared in season two. In other instances, book characters were replaced by new characters with several similar traits: Vargo Hoat, an Essosi leading a group of mercenaries called the Brave Companions in service of the Boltons, was rewritten as Locke (Noah Taylor), a Northman leading a group of Bolton soldiers in season 3 and 4; and Olly, Jon's personal steward in the Night's Watch, replaces a book character called Satin.
Behind the Scenes (1)
- #007
While the books contain a large number of songs, not many of these made it to the screen, with some exceptions: e.g 'The Bear and the Maiden Fair' (sung by Gary Lightbody/Bolton soldier), 'The Rains of Castamere' (Jerome Flynn/Bronn and Sigur Rós), 'Gentle Mother, Font of Mercy' (Sophie Turner/Sansa), 'It's Always Sunny Under the Sea' (Kerry Ingram/Shireen) and 'Hands of Gold' (Ed Sheeran/Lannister soldier). These actors, with the exception of Turner, were also professional singers, as most actors who are not singers are very reluctant to do this on screen. There were plans to have Rose Leslie (Ygritte) sing a wildling song called 'The Last of the Giants,' but even though she had done nude scenes, Leslie was terrified to sing on-camera, and politely refused. Turner also stated that her singing was harder than any other scene she did, including enduring a near-rape and Joffrey's abuse.
Easter Eggs & References (1)
- #008
Contains a major spoiler — show
Sean Blowers (Lord Manderly) was the first Northern Lord to proclaim Robb (Richard Madden) King of the North, and call Jon Snow (Kit Harington) King of the North is the last character to say a line in the series. After Sansa is crowned Queen, he is the first of the Northern Lords to proclaim "Queen in the North!," with all joining in unison. The last words spoken in the series.
Deeper Meaning (3)
- #009
Much of the inspiration for the War of the Five Kings in the series comes from the War of the Roses, a series of dynastic wars in the fifteenth century where the rivaling houses of York and Lancaster fought for the throne of England. The families 'Stark' and 'Lannister' were clearly inspired by these factions, as were several characters. The Mad King is based on Henry VI of Lancaster, who also suffered from bouts of insanity; his wife Margaret of Anjou (nicknamed 'the She-wolf of France') was a basis for Cersei, as both women were fiercely protective of their sons, and ruthlessly ruled the country through them in absence of their husbands. Henry and Margaret were defeated by Edward IV of York; the young Edward resembles Robb, as he became the leader of the Yorks at age 19 after his father fell in battle, won several battles against the Lancasters, but made a politically unwise decision by impulsively marrying the widow of a Lancastrian; older Edward may have inspired Robert, as both men were formidable soldiers who defeated a mad king, but spent most of their latter days drinking and whoring. Edward's friend and confidant, William Lord Hastings, was the likely reference for Robert's friend Ned Stark: Hastings was a powerful figure at Edward's court, who ensured his king's succession by Edward's brother, Richard III, who then had Hastings summarily beheaded years later on grounds of treason. Richard III was, in turn, defeated by Henry VII Tudor (a Lancaster), who had spent many years in exile during Edward IV's reign, like Daenerys had during Robert's rule. Henry also returned with a dragon in his weapon, and later (somewhat falsely) vilified and slandered Richard III as an amoral, scheming, physically deformed and unattractive hunchback, making Richard an inspiration for Tyrion. Lastly, to cement his claim to the throne, Henry married Elizabeth of York, the daughter of Edward IV, his former enemy, making her a loose equivalent of Sansa who is also used as a political pawn by the Lannisters.
- #010
Each of the Stark children adopted one of six orphaned Direwolves (similar to conventional wolves except for being much larger and powerful) which appears on the Stark banner as their sygil. They were - Grey Wind/Robb, Lady/Sansa, Nymeria/Arya, Summer/Bran, ShaggyDog/Rickon, and the runt of the litter Ghost went to the bastard Jon Snow.
- #011
Contains a major spoiler — show
In the sixth season's "Battle of the Bastards" episode, when the Stark army is on the verge of defeat, the knights of the Vale, whom Sansa had secretly summoned for help, arrive and change the course of the battle. Sansa also decides the fate of the captured Ramsay Bolton; The Atlantic interpreted the episode's leaving this decision to her as "finally, Sansa decided who the victim would be."
Life & Family (8)
- #012
Series author George R.R. Martin reported on his blog that after the filming of the episode in which Sansa's direwolf Lady is executed, the dog that played Lady, a Northern Inuit named Zunni, was adopted by Sophie Turner (Sansa).
- #013
Sophie Turner (Sansa) and Maisie Williams (Arya) have matching tattoos of the date 07.08.09, the day they found out that they were cast on the show.
- #014
Sophie Turner (Sansa) got a tattoo of a direwolf as in the sigil of House Stark and the words "The Pack Survives" on her forearm.
- #015
Rolling Stone placed Sansa fourth on its list of the 40 best Game of Thrones characters. According to the magazine, although Sansa remained "in the shadow of her murderous little sister," she was the show's best-kept secret, surviving through her quiet political intelligence and emotional resilience.
- #016
Contains a major spoiler — show
Each of the Stark children receives a direwolf pup; Sansa's is named Lady. When Arya's wolf Nymeria bites Joffrey and runs off, Queen Cersei demands that the punishment be carried out, and Lady is killed in place of the escaped wolf. The incident drives a wedge between the two sisters for a long time.
- #017
Contains a major spoiler — show
Sansa takes her looks from her mother's family, the Tullys: blue eyes, high cheekbones and thick auburn hair. In the novels, while hiding in the Vale under the name "Alayne Stone," she dyes this hair dark brown; the disguise is designed so that no one recognizes her.
- #018
Contains a major spoiler — show
The wedding-night scene in season five's 'Unbowed, Unbent, Unbroken' became one of the show's most controversial moments for departing from the books. US Senator Claire McCaskill announced she would stop watching; Business Insider reported the following episode's audience fell from 6.2 million to 5.4 million.
- #019
Contains a major spoiler — show
In the series finale, while her brother Bran is chosen king of the Seven Kingdoms, Sansa declares the North's independence, saying the North has paid too high a price to join this union, and is crowned Queen in the North.
About Game of Thrones and its cast (5)
- #020
Rachel Hurd-Wood was considered for the role of Sansa.
- #021
Laura Butler, who was Sophie Turner's stand in/body double, looks so much like Turner that some people thought they were twins. She revealed in an interview that some of the other actors and crew kept thinking she was Turner and once Turner's fiancé Joe Jonas even tried to kiss her.
- #022
Although she is well known for her auburn hair, Sophie is a natural blonde but dyes her hair red in order to portray her character on Game of Thrones (2011).
- #023
Best known for her role as Sansa Stark on the HBO fantasy television series Game of Thrones (2011), which earned her a Young Artist Award nomination as Best Supporting Young Actress in a TV Series. Her drama teacher encouraged her to audition for the part.
- #024
The final two candidates for the role were Sophie Turner and Izzy Meikle-Small; Turner won the part. Meikle-Small later said she was sorry to lose the role, but thought her family would not have been too keen on it because of the series' scenes involving nudity.
Sources & editorial notes
Sources for the entries on this page
- Wikipedia Wikipedia — Sansa Stark
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