Game Of Thrones creators explain season 5 Sansa Stark twist 

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WARNING: Article contains spoilers for A Dance With Dragons and Game Of Thrones season 5, episode 3

What will happen to Sansa now? (Picture: Sky Atlantic)

The latest episode of Game Of Thrones – which aired on Sky Atlantic in the early hours of this morning – has thrown up one of the biggest changes from the books so far.

Right up there with showing Robb’s wife fall pregnant before being brutally killed at the Red Wedding, this latest episode saw Sansa Stark return to Winterfell betrothed to none other than sadomasochistic psychopath Ramsay Bolton.

In the books things are rather different, with Sansa’s childhood friend Jeyne Poole marrying Ramsay, who believes she is actually Arya Stark.

With Jeyne only making a minor appearance in season one of the show, showrunners had to choose between reintroducing the character or doing something entirely different.

David Benioff explained to Entertainment Weekly: ‘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. There was a subplot we loved from the books, but it used a character that’s not in the show.’

Sansa is now in Winterfell with Ramsay Bolton (Picture: Sky Atlantic)

Writer-producer Bryan Cogman added: ‘In the books, Sansa has very few chapters in the Vale once she’s up there. That was not going to be an option for one of our lead characters. While this is a very bold departure, [we liked] the power of bringing a Stark back to Winterfell and having her reunite with Theon under these circumstances.’

He explained it was a no-brainer to have Sansa take over Jeyne Poole’s storyline, saying: ‘You use the character the audience is invested in.’

It remains to be seen whether Sansa’s experiences in Winterfell will reflect Jeyne’s story in A Dance With Dragons, but either way it seems there are testing times ahead for Sansa…

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