Sansa Stark Will Grow Up In 'GoT' Season 6

Good news, GoT fans: Sophie Turner has revealed that Game of Thrones' Season 6 will be big for Sansa Stark. While at an SAG Awards party over the weekend, the actor hinted at huge things to come for the beloved character. “I mean this season is a really, really big one for Sansa,” she said, according to Time. “It’s her really coming into her own. She, this season, really commands the respect that she deserves and she grabs hold of it and she runs with it and it’s really good.”

Game of Thrones fans will remember that Sansa has gone through quite a lot over the course of the series, particularly in Season 5. She was the victim of one of the most controversial scenes the show has featured, but she managed to escape her horrible marriage to Ramsay Bolton — although it's unclear if she's without injury. Sansa has not always been as easy to root for as her less passive siblings, but if Turner's comments are to be believed, she will soon have a more active role in her own fate, something that's seriously good to hear.

Yet while I'm sure the actor is right that the upcoming season will be Sansa's time to shine and mature, it's important to acknowledge that in many ways, the character has already made important steps toward adulthood in previous seasons. She's undergone many transformations already, and a look back at her personality throughout the series' run shows just how much she's truly changed.

Season 1: Stuck-Up Sansa

Sansa is so different in the first season. She is very prim and stuck up, and her main goals are to be like Cersei and marry Joffrey, if you can believe it. She is fed up with her family and living in Winterfell, wanting nothing more than to wear nice dresses and rule King's Landing. She also does really obnoxious things like side with the Lannisters over the Starks.

Season 2: Cautious Sansa

Season 2 finds Sansa a captive in her betrothal and visitation to King's Landing. Watching the horrors the people she formerly admired have committed make her more loyal to her family and less swayed by wealth and power. She endures beatings and humiliations, but she retains her dignity, even taking on the leadership of the women of King's Landing. She learns valuable lessons about secrecy and self-protection, some of them strangely coming from Cersei.

Season 3: Vulnerable Sansa

Sansa in Season 3 is able to find some people to confide in, occasionally abandoning the impassive facade from the previous season. While her trust in the Tyrells and Tyrion does not always serve her well, it shows that she is not going to become an ice queen like Cersei.

Season 4: Independent Sansa

Joffrey dies in Season 4, which is really good news for Sansa. No longer trapped at King's Landing, she takes a more active role in her own life, disguising herself and traveling alone.

Season 5: Imprisoned Sansa

After some new freedoms in the previous season, Sansa in Season 5 is back to being a pawn of the men around her; she is married and raped by the horrible Ramsay Bolton and imprisoned by his family. Unlike her time at King's Landing, she is actively plotting her escape, seeming more independent despite her horrible situation. She also stands up for herself when she is able to, and appears to have internalized some of the harshness of those around her.

At the end of that season, Sansa and Theon had escaped to hopefully join the remaining Starks. From Turner's description, it appears that this will give her more power and freedom than before. I'm excited to see what version of Sansa Season 6 will bring.

Images: HBO (6)