Game Of Thrones’ Maisie Williams discusses Arya’s non-violent decision

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Maisie Williams has been chatting about a big spoilery decision from the final episodes of Game Of Thrones. If you’re ready to see the spoilers, read on…

Williams has been speaking to Entertainment Weekly about Arya Stark’s decision not to kill Cersei when she had the chance, in the penultimate episode of Game Of Thrones.

“I just wanted to be on set with Lena [Headey, who plays Cersei] 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 added this: “The Hound says, ‘You want to be like me? You want to live your life like me?’ 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.”

“It’s not a Game of Thrones ending for Arya, it’s a happy ending,” Williams added in closing. “It gave me a place to take Arya that I never thought I’d go with her again.”

Arya ends up sailing off to discover what’s west of Westeros, but if you were hoping for a sequel show to see what she finds, don’t hold your breath – HBO’s big boss has recently ruled it out.

Still, it’s nice to know that Arya had a more hopeful ending than we might have predicted.