The writer also touches on another aspect of the scene that viewers took particular issue with: The fact that Sansa doesn't fight back at all. Cogman insists, "We can’t all be Arya." He added that the decision to cut away from Sansa's face at the last moment was out of concern for the actress. "[T]his was Sophie’s first scene of this nature, and we didn’t want to show the attack... To me it was about being respectful to Sophie." Okay, we'll take that.

He also admits that the scene wasn't easy to write, either. "It was a very difficult scene for me to write," he said. "I’ve known Sophie since she was a kid… I think it was the attack on our motives behind it that upset me. Because I love these characters...and I love these actors...it’s not an easy thing to put a character that I love through a scene like this."