Games of Thrones star Sophie Turner has said she received her “sex education” from starring in the HBO series in her teens.
Turner was 14 when she first appeared in the series as Sansa Stark, the eldest daughter of Ned Stark (Sean Bean), and remained on the show for its entirety until it ended after eight seasons in 2019.
On this week’s Dish from Waitrose podcast, the 29-year-old told co-hosts Nick Grimshaw and Angela Hartnett that she learnt a number of life lessons during her time on the show.
“I definitely got my sex education from that show. More, more than enough,” she said of the series, which was known for its frequent and often graphic sex scenes.
“It was the best acting class I've ever had,” she added. “Because I never had proper, formal training, so I got to learn from the amazing actors around me. I felt like I'd won, you know, a competition or something.
“But it was great. It was like we all were a family and the character I got to live with for 10 years, so it felt like we kind of merged into one person by the end of it.”
Turner said the role “informed my entire life in terms of business decisions” as well as on-set etiquette. “Everything I learnt from Game of Thrones,” she said.
Despite its huge impact on her as an actor, Turner said she has “never watched the show”.
“It's horrible watching yourself,” she explained, adding that on the occasions she had to – at premieres, for example – she entered a “two month bout of depression after”.
Over the years, the HBO series has come under fire for its prolific sex scenes, which many described as gratuitous. It has also been criticised for its depictions of sexual violence.
In the show’s pilot episode, Emilia Clarke’s character Daenerys is raped by her husband Khal Drogo (Jason Momoa), in what is described as a customary ritual of the fictional Dothraki people to which Momoa’s character belonged.
Speaking on the controversial scene, Momoa told The New York Times: “It was important to depict Drogo and his style. You’re playing someone that’s like Genghis Khan. It was a really, really, really hard thing to do.
“But my job was to play something like that, and it’s not a nice thing, and it’s what that character was. It’s not my job to go, ‘Would I not do it?’ I’ve never really been questioned about ‘Do you regret playing a role?’ We’ll put it this way: I already did it. Not doing it again.”
Game of Thrones came to a controversial conclusion in 2019, with many fans speaking out against the “rushed” final season.
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