Game of Thrones actor Maisie Williams opened up about how she “resented” the role of Arya Stark while growing up because she couldn’t fully express herself.
In an expansive new piece for British GQ, Williams delved into some of her frustrations about playing the character from such an early age. When she joined the cast of the HBO show, she was just 12 years old. “I think that when I started becoming a woman, I resented Arya because I couldn’t express who I was becoming,” she said, recalling the first time she was handed a bra by the costume department. “And then I also resented my body, because it wasn’t aligned with the piece of me that the world celebrated.”
She maintains she had a great time on the series, even if her answer to what she misses most was quite decisive.
“Can I say none of it? … I don’t think it’s healthy [to miss it], because I loved it. I look at it so fondly, and I look at it with such pride. But why would I want to make myself feel sad about the greatest thing that ever happened to me? I don’t want to associate that with feelings of pain.”
Williams, who turns 25 on Friday, was asked if she would ever reprise the role in a movie or follow-up series. “I’m not saying it would never happen,” she replied. “It has to be right in the context of all the other spinoffs and the universe of Game of Thrones. … It has to be the right time for me.”
She did step back into the role—albeit in voice form only—for Warner Bros’ MultiVersus fighting game.
While Williams didn’t directly address the reaction to the final season of Game of Thrones, she did joke about the universally negative response to 2020’s The New Mutants. The film was pushed back countless times due to creative differences between director Josh Boone and the studio, especially following the Disney-Fox merger. “I can’t remember what publication it was, but someone said it was the worst Marvel movie ever made,” she said with a laugh. “I still feel kinda proud of that!”
Williams also sat down for GQ’s ongoing “Actually Me” video series, in which she answered fan comments and questions across Twitter, Instagram, Quora, Reddit, YouTube, and TikTok. Watch that below, and read the full profile here.
