Game Of Thrones’ eighth and final season is due out some time next year, which means the most ruthless game of musical chairs ever is coming to an end. With HBO deploying Mission: Impossible-style methods to prevent any spoilers, we don’t have much insight into the new season, beyond the fact that the final six episodes will be long (but not feature-length), Winterfell will see a steep decline in its property value, and Daenerys is going to do some “weird shit.” And, as befits a show full of undead warriors, wildling warriors, warriors for hire, and dragons, it will also be really, really bloody.
That’s according to Sophie Turner, who’s played Sansa Stark since 2011. The actress tells Esquire that the final season is “going to be bloodier and more death and more emotionally torturous than all the years before.” Turner previously said that we could look forward to “bigger and more fantastical elements” as the fantasy drama draws to a close. As for her own character’s development, Turner’s pretty proud of how the eldest Stark girl turned out: “I always had the feeling that she was learning and adapting,” Turner says. “And at some point or another, it was going to manifest itself somehow, and she manifested it into being a warrior. It felt really satisfying when it happened, and I’m really happy where this storyline for her has ended up.”