Last night’s ‘Game of Thrones’ flipped the script on the book series

Did you watch last night’s Game of Thrones? If you didn’t, here’s the first Game of Thrones spoiler alert, because we’ve got to talk about it.

During Sunday’s episode, we find Sansa and her current guardian, Littlefinger, arrive where? Winterfell. Talk about an emotional overload. If that’s not enough for Sansa to handle, Littlefinger then deals her another blow: she’s going to be married off to Ramsay Bolton, the son of Roose, who was behind the Red Wedding. Not exactly the best circumstances to start a new marriage. Sansa at first doesn’t have anything to say out loud, but we know what she’s thinking: “oh hell no.”

Littlefinger gives her a grand speech about how she needs to take control of her future and not sit by it on the sidelines, and Sansa eventually agrees to go along with this arrangement (and for those like, “whoa whoa what?” about her marriage to Tyrion? That’s was never consummated, so it’s not a real marriage according to Littlefinger). Now Sansa’s back home in Winterfell, though under drastically different circumstances.

Now here’s your second Game of Thrones spoiler alert, because really, it’s time to dive into how Sansa Stark’s storyline has been changed drastically from the book. What happened last night differs drastically from the books, and we have Sophie Turner, who plays Sansa, to thank for that. In the books, Sansa’s in Eyrie (the place with the Moon Door, that you can fall through) when A Feast for Crows ends (the fourth book) and she doesn’t show any sign of heading back to Winterfell, let alone marrying Ramsay. But, Game of Thrones wanted to give Sansa something BIG to do this season.

“Sansa is a character we care about almost more than any other, and the Stark sisters [Sansa and Arya] have from the very beginning been two characters who have fascinated us the most,” showrunner David Benioff explained to Entertainment Weekly in a post-episode interview. Benoiff loves Turner so much, he wanted to give her a big character arc this season, and that involved deviating from the books just a little bit. “We really wanted Sansa to play a major part this season. If we were going to stay absolutely faithful to the book, it was going to be very hard to do that.”

Writer-producer, Bryan Cogman echoed Benioff’s feelings. Basically, all the show has done is taken part of Sansa’s story and combined it with what’s going on with Ramsay. “You have this storyline with Ramsay. Do you have one of your leading ladies — who is an incredibly talented actor who we’ve followed for five years and viewers love and adore — do it? Or do you bring in a new character to do it? To me, the question answers itself: You use the character the audience is invested in.” Which now means Sansa’s involved in another marriage she’s not particularly happy about.

This is just another twist in the ever-changing Game of Thrones saga, and the show might still have more tricks up its sleeve — whether it continues to differ from the books, or even how it gets back to the path the books have laid out. Besides, being back in Winterfell will be nice, since it’s a location we haven’t visited much since season one. “It’s great for us because there’s probably no location that has more emotional resonance for viewers than Winterfell and with Sansa coming back there it’s amazing,” Benioff told EW before adding, “Hopefully some day we can open it as a theme park.”

Um, yes please. Where do we buy tickets?

Image via here.

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