The actress also discussed how she'll feel reuniting with the cast one last time at the Emmys.
Sophie Turner is finally sharing how she wished Game of Thrones had ended things.
The 23-year-old actress recently did an interview for TheWrap's Emmy magazine, where she spilled the beans on who she would have liked to see her character come face to face with again and more.
"I thought Arya would kill Cersei," she admits. "And I would like to have seen Sansa and Cersei reunited, or Arya and Cersei. But there were so many ways the story could have turned out. I felt very passionately about the ending for Sansa, and I was very happy with the ending that turned out for her."
In the penultimate episode of season eight of the series, Cersei Lannister (Lena Headey) perished under the Red Keep with her brother/lover Jaime Lannister while Daenerys Targaryen (Emilia Clarke) was attacking from above on the back of her one remaining dragon.
Although Arya (Maisie Williams) was marching to kill Cersei, alongside the Hound (Rory McCann), during the battle, the former convinced her that she'd die if she ascended the staircase leading to the villainess queen. So, she turned back and fought her way through King's Landing as it was blown to pieces by Dany's fire-breathing child.
Sansa Stark (Turner) and Cersei hadn't spoken since she attended King Joffrey Lannister (Jack Gleeson) and Margaery Tyrell's (Natalie Dormer) wedding breakfast, which ended with the young king's death. However, the pair had more than a few contentious chats during the show's first few seasons, back when Sansa was briefly betrothed to Joffrey herself.
During the interview, Turner admitted that she was frightened that her character might not live to see the end of the story. As fans know, many key figures were killed throughout the show.
"Of course! I think everyone was terrified of being axed the whole time," she says. "Every single page, it was like, 'Oh, my God, is this it?' And then to find that I made it to the final episode and to the final scene was great."
Turner also discussed her pushback against fans who were loud in their criticism of the show's final season, including a petition to get the season remade, which she decried.
"The fans are incredible and so loyal, and we love them because of the fact that they're so, so passionate. I cannot fault them there. But when people were saying that there was no effort, that the writers were terrible …The most effort was put into this final season," she states. "We were shooting for an incredibly long time, nearly 11 months. We did the most night shoots anyone has done ever, I think. I felt a little defensive, and I think I'm entitled to feel like that."
At the end of the show, Sansa fought for the North to remain a free kingdom -- and was named its queen. Meanwhile, her younger brother, Bran the Broken (Isaac Hempstead Wright), became the king of the six remaining kingdoms, a decision that Turner agrees with.
"I think it's true what Tyrion was saying: Bran holds all of our stories, and we can't move on unless we remember our history," she explains. "Daenerys had to die. Cersei was a mad queen. Arya is too much of a free spirit. Sansa probably wouldn't want to rule the seven kingdoms anyway - she wanted to stay in the North and defend the North. I really think Bran might be the perfect person for the job."
GoT has garnered 32 Emmy nominations for its final season, a staggering new record. However, for Turner, the awards show in September will be all about reconvening with her cast members -- one last time.
"I think the biggest moment is yet to come, when I really break down," she says. "I think it might be at the Emmys, because the Emmys are going to be the last time that we’ll ever see each other, at least as a cast. Or maybe I’ll never really say goodbye. It’s really my family, and because we love each other so much, it’ll be goodbye to the characters but not to each other."
RELATED CONTENT:
