Warning: This article contains discussion of sexual assault which some readers may find distressing
Sophie Turner has said that working on Game of Thrones didn’t just shape her career—it also ended up informing her understanding of sex at a young age.
The HBO fantasy series became infamous for its graphic mix of nudity, sex, brutality and political intrigue, alongside its sprawling cast and constant twists.
Turner joined the show in 2011, stepping into the role of Sansa Stark when she was just 15, and remained a central figure through all eight seasons until the final episode aired in 2019.
Given how prominent sex is within the world of Game of Thrones, Turner has explained that the show was where she first encountered the idea of oral sex.
“The first time I found out about oral sex was reading the Game of Thrones script,” Turner said in a resurfaced interview in the Sunday Times from 2017. “I was 13. I said, ‘Wow! People do that? That’s fascinating. I guess that was my sex education. Being on Game of Thrones.”
But the series’ explicit content didn’t stop at consensual scenes. Some storylines also portrayed violence and sexual assault, and certain moments sparked intense backlash among viewers. In that same interview, Turner spoke about one of the show’s most debated scenes involving rape.
“Sexual assault wasn’t something that had affected me or anybody I knew, so I was pretty blasé about the whole thing,” she said. “Naively so. And then I shot the scene, and in the aftermath, there was this huge uproar that we would depict something like that on television. My first response was like, maybe we shouldn’t have put that on screen at all.”
She added that the public response ultimately pushed her to see the issue differently.
“The more we talk about sexual assault, the better, and screw the people who are saying we shouldn’t be putting this on TV and screw the people who are saying they’re going to boycott the show because of it.
“This sort of thing used to happen, and it continues to happen now, and if we treat it as such a taboo and precious subject, then how are people going to have the strength to come out and feel comfortable saying that this has happened to them?” she continued.
Separately, Turner has also recently reunited with former Game of Thrones co-star Kit Harington for a movie project—one that includes a kissing scene that surprised many fans.