‘Game of Thrones’ star Maisie Williams admits she ‘resented’ playing Arya Stark
Maisie Williams as Arya Stark (Image: screengrab from YouTube/GameofThrones)
Maisie Williams, who grew up onscreen as Arya Stark in the hit series “Game of Thrones,” admitted she “resented” playing the character after coming of age and becoming a woman.
The English actress opened up on her feelings about her “Game of Thrones” character during an exclusive interview with GQ Magazine yesterday, April 12. According to Williams, the resentment she had was due to the difference in Arya’s coming-of-age experience from her own, and how it affected the way she expressed herself.
“I think that when I started becoming a woman, I resented Arya because I couldn’t express who I was becoming,” she was quoted as saying. “And then I also resented my body, because it wasn’t aligned with the piece of me that the world celebrated.”
When asked about the parts of “Game of Thrones” she misses, she gave no immediate response, but said she loves and is proud of the series.
“Can I say none of it? […] I don’t think it’s healthy [to miss it] because I loved it,” she said in the interview. “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 has reprised her role as Arya by voice-acting in the video game “MultiVersus,” but said it “has to be the right time” for her to do so in a live-action capacity.
“I’m not saying it would never happen, but I’m also not saying it in this interview so that everyone goes….‘The spin-off! It’s coming!’ Because it’s not,” she was quoted as saying. “It has to be the right time and the right people. It has to be right in the context of all the other spin-offs and the universe of ‘Game of Thrones.’ It has to be the right time for me.”
Meanwhile, the upcoming “Game of Thrones” prequel series “House of the Dragon” was praised by author George R.R. Martin in December, after he viewed its pilot episode. The show will premiere on Aug. 21 on HBO and HBO Max. Dana Cruz /ra
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