--- title: Game of Thrones: Sophie Turner on Ramsay Bolton Rape Scene description: The actress who plays Sansa says she and actor Iwan Rheon understood the gravity of the moment canonical: https://time.com/4342717/game-of-thrones-sophie-turner-sansa-stark-rape-scene/ author: Eliana Dockterman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-05-20T17:18:24.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T17:42:27.566Z article:section: Entertainment og:title: Sophie Turner Says She 'Couldn't Really Sleep' Before Filming the Rape Scene on 'Game of Thrones' og:description: The actress who plays Sansa says she and actor Iwan Rheon understood the gravity of the moment og:url: https://time.com/4342717/game-of-thrones-sophie-turner-sansa-stark-rape-scene/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1ace855c40eea2e0/698893fda988ca05f46b7ed1/sophie-turner.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Sophie Turner og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Sophie Turner Says She 'Couldn't Really Sleep' Before Filming the Rape Scene on 'Game of Thrones' twitter:description: The actress who plays Sansa says she and actor Iwan Rheon understood the gravity of the moment twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1ace855c40eea2e0/698893fda988ca05f46b7ed1/sophie-turner.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Sophie Turner Says She 'Couldn't Really Sleep' Before Filming the Rape Scene on _Game of Thrones_  by [Eliana Dockterman](https://time.com/author/eliana-dockterman/)  ## Eliana Dockterman Correspondent May 20, 2016 5:18 PM UTC  Sophie Turner as Sansa Stark in HBO's Game of Thrones Sophie Turner as Sansa Stark in HBO's Game of ThronesHBO  by [Eliana Dockterman](https://time.com/author/eliana-dockterman/)  ## Eliana Dockterman Correspondent May 20, 2016 5:18 PM UTC [Sansa Stark](http://time.com/4201400/sophie-turner-sansa-stark-game-of-thrones/) may soon confront [Ramsay Bolton](http://time.com/4314033/game-of-thrones-ramsay-primogeniture/) in this season of _Game of Thrones_. It’s a moment fans have been waiting for since the sadistic Ramsay (Iwan Rheon) raped Sansa (Sophie Turner) in a brutal scene last year. In a recent interview with TIME about _Thrones_ and her role as Jean Grey in _X-Men: Apocalypse_ (out May 27), Sophie Turner, now 20, said it was the hardest scene she’s ever filmed. “To have to do a really intense scene, like the rape scene last season, we couldn’t really sleep beforehand, Iwan and I,” she says. “During the day, it was a bit awkward. But afterwards you just go to Safe Haven, which is the hotel bar, and sort yourselves out.” The scene [caused an uproar](http://time.com/3917236/game-of-thrones-woman-problem-feminism/) when it aired last year, causing some fans to declare they were done with the show. Turner has had to field questions about the controversial plot point ever since, alternately [defending it](http://time.com/3882162/game-of-thrones-sansa-stark-wedding-ramsay-bolton/) and [suggesting](http://time.com/3954354/game-of-thrones-rape-scene-sansa/) that perhaps there is a reason that Sansa didn’t fight back then. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4342717/game-of-thrones-sophie-turner-sansa-stark-rape-scene/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4342717/game-of-thrones-sophie-turner-sansa-stark-rape-scene/"},"headline":"Sophie Turner Says She 'Couldn't Really Sleep' Before Filming the Rape Scene on Game of Thrones","datePublished":"2016-05-20T17:18:24.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T17:42:27.566Z","description":"The actress who plays Sansa says she and actor Iwan Rheon understood the gravity of the moment","url":"https://time.com/4342717/game-of-thrones-sophie-turner-sansa-stark-rape-scene/","keywords":["Television"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1ace855c40eea2e0/698893fda988ca05f46b7ed1/sophie-turner.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Eliana Dockterman","jobTitle":"Correspondent","url":"https://time.com/author/eliana-dockterman/"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1ace855c40eea2e0/698893fda988ca05f46b7ed1/sophie-turner.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Sophie Turner","caption":"Sophie Turner as Sansa Stark in HBO's Game of Thrones","creditText":"HBO","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4342717/game-of-thrones-sophie-turner-sansa-stark-rape-scene/","name":"Sophie Turner Says She 'Couldn't Really Sleep' Before Filming the Rape Scene on Game of Thrones"}}]}] ```