Game of Thrones season 7: Is there going to be a new clash in the North?

Set aside the possibly world-ending oncoming invasion of the Night King in Game of Thrones. What exactly does this new statement from Sophie Turner mean?

Even though there are just two days left until Game of Thrones season 7 finally premieres, that doesn’t mean there’s not time for a few more bombshells and teases from the stars. Take Sophie Turner, for instance. Via Time and ultimately Elle, she had a few sentences to say, and I don’t think any of us were prepared for exactly how she’d phrase things this time.

In the interest of context, let’s take a look at what else Turner has said about Sansa Stark in the long build-up to season 7. Six months ago, she said that “it’s really starting to feel like there’s a dark side to [Sansa],” which, at the time, we noted, made a lot of sense. Back in June, she flat-out suggested that there might be more murder in Sansa’s future.

With us so far? Excellent. Now let’s bring it forward to this week. Here’s what Turner said at the premiere of season 7.

Via Elle:

"“I think she might be a little more unlikeable, because she finally has this power, and she doesn’t really know what to do with it, and she really falters. It’s really interesting to see her like that, because the past few seasons, she’s been so strong.”"

Okay, now we’re really getting somewhere. People suddenly finding themselves in power and not really doing great with it is not a new idea in Game of Thrones. Need we point to anyone besides Daenerys Targaryen herself? For all her talk of being the mother of dragons, our khaleesi has not always been great at ruling people.

But this quote also seems to not quite fit with some of her earlier statements, like the one about Jon Snow not necessarily wanting to listen to Sansa because of patriarchal elements to Westerosi society. (We’re paraphrasing Turner here; she dropped patriarchy first, thank you.) However, let’s take a second to think about some spoilers.

Thanks for the spoiler warning, Kit Harington.

photo: courtesy of HBO

We currently believe that Jon himself isn’t going to spend the entire season hanging out at Winterfell, thanks to some photographs suggesting he’s going to Dragonstone. It’s possible that he ends up putting Sansa in charge or being in charge with Bran, since the season 7 premiere photos suggest Bran’s already going to arrive at the Wall by then. That could certainly put Sansa in a more overtly powerful position that might lead to something where she could “really [falter],” again to borrow from Turner herself.

It would also likely put her in contention with her own family, which would certainly take it to a “really interesting” place, per Turner, and her fighting with Jon is something we’ve speculated on before as well.

So what exactly is Sansa going to end up doing? Is it really going to make her “unlikeable”?

Next: We took High Valyrian for you

Perhaps most important of all: does it really matter if she’s likable or not?