Maisie’s Gameof Thrones exit
The quirky young star is killing it in the fame game
Who knew Arya Stark would have such a thing for home organisation? “Oh, my God,” says Maisie Williams, the actress who plays the baby-faced assassin on
GameofThrones, drooling over an Instagram feed of Gwyneth Paltrow and Mandy Moore’s obsessively curated pantries. “Shut up. p Look at that!”
There’s a moment in every interview when you realise how thoroughly the person across the table diverges from the character they’re best known for. With Maisie, that moment lands early, thankfully.
Although for the past seven years she’s played a juvenile killer on Thrones – the highly anticipated eighth and final season of which comes to Kiwi screens in April – Maisie is, in fact, a well-balanced 21-year-old with a surprising penchant for pink.
“When I was younger, I felt this pressure to not be a girly girl, so I didn’t tell anyone my favourite colour was pink,” reveals Maisie. “I just picked green and told everyone that, but it wasn’t until recently I realised I’d made this conscious decision. I told my boyfriend [old schoolmate Ollie Jackson], ‘Green is not my favourite colour and it never has been. I like pink!’”
To that end, in her shared London flat, Maisie has built a pink palace of a bedroom and bathroom, “with pink towels, pink floor mats and pink toilet paper”. So what would be Arya’s favourite colour? “She likes red. Blood red.”
The youngest of four siblings raised mainly by her mother after her parents’ divorce, Maisie spent her childhood in Bristol, “climbing trees, dancing and running around being very hyper”. Acting wasn’t high on her agenda until she was sent to an audition for Thrones.
She remembers “meeting lots of really scary girls and mums”, but also being instantly enamoured by Sophie Turner, who would go on to be cast as Arya’s sister Sansa. “She was just the nicest girl ever. To find out we were going to be shooting together put me at ease.” And they’re just as close off set – Maisie will be Sophie’s bridesmaid at her wedding to singer Joe Jonas.
At the time, no-one knew what to expect of
– a show based on
a series of fantasy books that feature a lot of dragons, incest and murder. Filming wrenched Maisie out of her pre-teen routine of school, friends and dance classes, and changed her family life too – her mother left her job as a university administrator to become the 12-year-old’s assistant and chaperone.
When she went on her first press tour, she was confronted by “hundreds, maybe thousands” of fans at every turn. “My mum and I realised how big the show was and that this was my career now. I was like, ‘We made the right choice – it’s all going to work out!’”
And it’s only grown bigger. During the show’s seventh season, Thrones averaged 31 million global viewers per episode. It’s the most-awarded drama series in the history of the Emmys and it’s estimated that each episode of the final season cost $21 million to make.
Maisie says fans have rooted for Arya since the beginning because “it was really refreshing to see a young girl who was so feisty and confident – she’s unlike a lot of other young female characters”.
Over the years, Arya has witnessed her father’s execution, cut her share of throats and fed at least one of her enemies a pie made of his sons’ flesh. Last season, it looked like she might direct her rage toward her sister.
“That was good fun – to feel like a bad guy,” Maisie smiles. “Often you’re cheering for her because she’s about to kill someone that everyone hates,
but when you see her do that with a character everyone loves, it’s really powerful. She’s one step away from spinning out of control.”
Her mother stopped shielding her from the show’s graphic sex scenes and violence early on. Trying to keep Maisie in the dark only served to pique her interest.
“The sex was just quite embarrassing and awkward,” Maisie says. “Most of the gory stuff I was part of, it’s not scary when you’re there shooting it. No-one’s really getting stabbed or getting their face ripped off. It’s just pretend, so it’s exciting.”
She’s watched many episodes of the show on the sofa next to her grandmother. “Bless her, my mum just plies her with more and more gin.”
As one of the last women standing in season eight, Maisie is aware the world will be watching Arya’s every move. Yes, she knows how it all ends. No, she’s not saying, but she hints, “People are gonna like it.”
Post- she’d like to direct and learn how to invest her estimated fortune of $8.5 million. “I’m going to have a normal life after the show,” says Maisie, adding that she’ll be spending even more time with her beloved mother, the only person she’s shared the final scripts with.
“I look back to the harder times we had and how much my mum struggled being a single mother with four kids. My life could have been very different and I’m lucky I’ve been able to provide for my family. It’s an amazing thing.”