Game of Thrones star Sophie Turner on X-Men: Dark Phoenix, and how Tye Sheridan is her ‘best on-screen boyfriend’
English actress – newly married to American pop star Joe Jonas – who has just finished work on HBO’s fantasy series, discusses her leading role in retooling of X-Men franchise
This year, British actress Sophie Turner begins the process of becoming a major star. We’ve already seen her epic arc as Sansa Stark in the eighth and concluding season of Game of Thrones, the HBO series that has been her training ground as an actress.
And now we see the statuesque Turner taking on the title role of Jean Grey/Phoenix in this summer’s Dark Phoenix, her first opportunity to carry a major motion picture. Is Sophie up for the challenge?
“It’s a dream to be able to take on this role,” Turner says. “Jean Grey not only stands at the heart of this story, but she is one of several important female characters and I think that’s very important.
“I loved being able to build this character and be able to show how she is dealing with a lot of suffering and psychological issues that will resonate with a lot of people.”
A retooling of the X-Men franchise, this film is an intensely personal and more female-centric exploration of the mutant saga.
Directed and written by Simon Kinberg, who wrote the screenplays for the previous X-Men movies, Dark Phoenix sees Turner’s Jean Grey drawn towards the dark side after an explosion takes place in space during an attempted X-Men rescue of Nasa astronauts.
Grey is no longer the same person after the accident and this creates havoc within the X-Men circle in ways we haven't seen before.
Tye Sheridan returns as Jean Grey’s love interest Scott Summers/Cyclops, alongside regular X-Men cast members James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence, as well as a new member of the billion dollar film franchise, Jessica Chastain, taking on the role of the villain.