Sophie Turner brings poise to characters under pressure, but the writing too often leaves them indistinct. We find her worth watching, while the ensembles we have reviewed leave us cautious about claiming too much for her.
Fi1m perspective
In Bryan Singer's X-Men: Apocalypse (2016), Sophie Turner's Jean Grey barely gets time to register before the screenplay turns to somebody else. Tye Sheridan makes Cyclops awkward enough to suggest a person, and Kodi Smit-McPhee gives Nightcrawler an easy friendliness; Turner gets fewer opportunities to make Jean distinct. Simon Kinberg's script keeps introducing people instead of spending time with them. We were frustrated, because the young cast gave us reasons to care and then had so little room to develop. Turner is worth our attention, but this is a thin basis for judging what she can do.
Game of Thrones (2011–2019) gave her something those films could not: eight seasons as Sansa Stark. The role established her internationally, and the composed presence associated with it has followed her into other kinds of drama. Her feature debut, Another Me (2013), came during the series' run, before the move into the X-Men films. Dark Phoenix (2019) put Jean at the centre. That was a larger part, though the familiar demands remained: distress, power and a character struggling to manage both.
The Staircase (2022) brings her back into an ensemble, playing Margaret Ratliff alongside Odessa Young as her sister. António Campos's series is considerably more rewarding than X-Men: Apocalypse, but it does not solve the problem of making Turner distinct. The Ratliff sisters take three episodes to become distinguishable, a long wait even in an eight-part drama. Family dinners and hearings recur through middle episodes that already have too little new to offer. Rosemarie DeWitt's unyielding Candace Zamperini makes a sharper impression, and the difference cannot simply be excused by saying that everyone is short of space.
We should be careful about blaming every limitation on the scripts. Turner's poise suits people enduring upheaval, but Jean and Margaret need more individual detail than these productions give them. We can recognise the constraints without pretending these are more memorable performances than they are. Start with Game of Thrones if Turner is the reason for watching, rather than asking either of these later ensembles to explain her reputation.
Biography
Sophie Turner is an English actress. She was born in Northampton on 21 February 1996 and began acting at the age of three with the Playbox Theatre Company.
Turner made her professional debut as Sansa Stark in the HBO series Game of Thrones (2011–2019). The role brought her international recognition and an Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series in 2019.
Her film credits include Another Me (2013), Barely Lethal (2015), X-Men: Apocalypse (2016) and Dark Phoenix (2019). She played Margaret Ratliff in the 2022 miniseries The Staircase.
