Game of Thrones’ Dark Sansa May Have Helped Sophie Turner Land the X-Men Role

Game of Thrones actress Sophie Turner was as happily surprised as we were to find out she landed the role of young Jean Grey in X-Men Apocalypse. She has an inkling why that might have happened.

Speaking with IGN, Turner said things are still in the earliest stages and of course very secretive but “I’m really, really excited to play [Jean]. She’s an icon,” she said.

And yes, there’s already seriously cool fan art circulating of her as Jean, but Turner feels she might have edged out the competition for the role thanks to Sansa’s arc in Season 4 of the HBO series. She thinks “they saw the dark side of Sansa… 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.”

And what, if any, of Janssen’s performance will she incorporate into hers?

Turner told IGN she wants to “bring something different to the character,” but still pay respect to what came before her. “I think Famke played Jean incredibly well, but also, I’m playing a younger version of her,” Turner explained. “I want to emulate Famke in a sense, because she has to seem like the Jean in the first two movies, but I’m also going to put my own twist on her. I think I’m also going to take inspiration from the comics. I don’t know, we’ll see.”

Are you excited to see Turners take on Jean?

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