Back in January it was announced that Sophie Turner has secured the role of the younger Jean Grey in X-Men: Apocalypse, where she’ll be joined by fellow franchise newcomers Tye Sheridan as Scott Summers / Cyclops and Alexandra Shipp as Ororo Munroe / Storm. During an interview with IGN, Turner spoke about her casting in the mutant superhero sequel, comparing Jean to her Game of Thrones character Sansa Stark.
“I think maybe one of the reasons that they chose me for [Jean] is because they saw the dark side of Sansa. Maybe they’re thinking, ‘Oh, Phoenix, Jean Grey.’ I definitely see a lot of parallels in there. [Jean] struggles with her power… and not being accepted in the human world. I think in terms of [Game of Thrones], that’s kind of the way Sansa felt in that she really wanted to be a normal princess/queen and live a normal life — and she doesn’t, because of all this havoc happens. I think Jean, in a way, feels that.”
Turner had previously stated that she’d be “emulating” Famke Janssen in the role, but expect to see her put her own spin on the character too: “[I want to] bring something different to the character… I think Famke played Jean incredibly well, but also, I’m playing a younger version of her. I want to emulate Famke in a sense, because she has to seem like the Jean in the first two movies, but I’m also going to put my own twist on her. I think I’m also going to take inspiration from the comics. I don’t know, we’ll see… I’m really, really excited to play [Jean]. She’s an icon.”
X-Men: Apocalypse is out in May 2016, while Turner will be back as Sansa Stark for the fifth season of Game of Thrones in April.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&list=PL18yMRIfoszH_jfuJoo8HCG1-lGjvfH2F&v=lXOAy1VNGBA
Originally published February 11, 2015. Updated April 13, 2018.
