Game of Thrones season 7 actor Sophie Turner: 'Sansa doesn't think Jon Snow is capable of running Winterfell'

Cast and showrunners assembled for a panel to tease the HBO fantasy series' penultimate season

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Following the news that viewers will have to wait a whole year before seeing new episodes of Game of Thrones, the HBO series' cast and showrunners assembled at San Diego Comic-Con 2016 to discuss what they can expect from season seven.

Present at the panel were writers David Benioff and DB Weiss as well as a selection of the show's cast including Sophie Turner (Sansa stark), Liam Cunningham (Ser Davos Seaworth), John Bradley (Samwell Tarly), Nathalie Emmanuel (Missandei), Isaac Hempstead Wright (Bran Stark), Conleth Hill (Varys), Iwan Rheon (Ramsay Bolton), Hannah Murray (Gilly), Faye Marsay (The Waif) and Kristian "hold the door" Nairn (Hodor).

The first thing the collective wanted to tackle - following a witty blooper reel - was why the penultimate batch of episodes will arrive later than usual.

“Winter is here, and we’ve got to shoot in places with trees and wait for the leaves to turn,” co-showrunner Benioff said revealing that filming will end in February as a consequence.

Turner had some clear thoughts on where her character Sansa - sat beside new King in the North Jon Snow (Kit Harington) at season six's end - could go from here.

“I don’t think she believes Jon is capable of running Winterfell and the North; she doesn’t think he has the intellect, the knowledge, the experience that she has," she said, adding: "...and I concur.

“He has wonderful morals, those Stark morals, [so she thinks] that inevitably he’ll make the good decision, but whether it’s going to benefit anyone is another story.”

Regarding that smile following the death of Ramsay, Turner said: “I have no idea if she’s going to become a real leader or if she’s going to become completely sadistic, but we’ll soon find out."

Wright, who plays her on-screen brother, discussed what it was like being at the centre of Snow's parentage reveal.

“Bran knows he’s been shown this information for a reason - he might not know exactly why, but it’s obviously imperative he knows this and will spread the word,” the actor said before jokingly coming up with one way he could break the news to Snow: “By the way, I’m a tree wizard, and your dad isn’t your dad.”

Game of Thrones will return to screens for its seventh season next summer with a shortened episode count.