The One Kill Maisie Williams Wishes Arya Got in 'Game of Thrones' [SPOILERS]
By Hannah Wigandt
This story includes spoilers for 'Game of Thrones' Season 8.
While fans have been very vocal about this last season of Game of Thrones, with the response extremely divided, the cast of the show seems to be doing the same thing. While some actors have been quick to denounce the backlash, others have been willing to share what they would change in the season, including Maisie Williams.
Among issues fans had with Season 8 was the complaint about Williams' character, Arya Stark, and her story arc in the finale. Did she just forget that she has some pretty cool Faceless Men skills? And why didn't she get her showdown with Cersei Lannister?
Entertainment Weekly asked Williams what her biggest regret of the show was, to which she replied that she would have liked Arya to have more time with Cersei.
“I just wanted to be on set with Lena again, she’s good fun,” Williams said. “And I wanted Arya to kill Cersei even if it means [Arya] dies too. Even up to the point when Cersei’s with Jaime I thought [while reading the script], ‘He’s going to whip off his face [and reveal its Arya]’ and they’re both going to die. I thought that’s what Arya’s drive has been.”
Williams went on to explain that this didn't happen for Arya because she realized she had more to live for than just taking out everyone on her kill list.
“The Hound says, ‘You want to be like me? You want to live your life like me?’” Williams continued. “In my head, the answer was: ‘Yeah.’ But I guess sleeping with Gendry, seeing Jon again, realizing she’s not just fighting for herself anymore but also her family — it’s bringing up all these human emotions that Arya hasn’t felt for a long time. When The Hound asks her if she has another option, all of a sudden there are so many more things in [Arya’s] life that she can live for, that she can do. It was a shock for me because that wasn’t how I envisioned her arc going this year. Then I realized there were other things I could play, bringing Arya back to being a 16-year-old again.”
Fans certainly weren't expecting this kind of end for Arya either, but at the end of the day it's what we got.