One of the by-products of watching “Game of Thrones” for almost a decade is the fact that viewers have seen the various Stark children grow into the adults that they are today (the ones that lived, more specifically). Jon Snow has become the hero of the series. Bran has turned into an all-seeing font of knowledge, and a bit of a creep. Sansa has gone through Hell and come through it one of the strongest people in the series. And Arya, played by Maisie Williams (who began the series at age 11 and is now in her 20’s), has turned into one of the most skilled assassins in all of Westeros.
However, part of watching actors grow up is accepting the fact that they are adults. And fans of “Game of Thrones” were hit with that startling fact last night when we watched young Arya Stark in her first sex scene. For some, including Williams, this was an exciting moment. For others, it was like watching your little sister (who HBO made clear, before the episode, is 18 in the series, per an appropriately-timed tweet seen below) making out with a hunky guy. You know she’s an adult and is allowed to make that choice, but you might not be completely comfortable with watching (unless you actually live in Westeros, where that sort of behavior is fairly commonplace).
Speaking to EW, Williams talked about the shocking scene and her preparation for it, as well as what all went into making her comfortable the day of the shoot.
“At first, I thought it was a prank,” Williams said. “I was like, ‘Yo, good one.’ And [the showrunners were] like, ‘No, we haven’t done that this year.’ Oh, fuck!”
She continued, “I got to the read-through and I’m reading the scene and thought, ‘Oh, we’re actually going to do this. When do I shoot this? I need to go to the gym.’ A whole list of things.”
Before she could get down to the nitty-gritty on set, there were some questions that needed to be answered, involving just how comfortable Williams was with nudity, considering the series (particularly the early seasons) was known for its rather explicit portrayal of sex.
“David [Benioff] and Dan [Weiss] were like: ‘You can show as much or as little as you want,’” Williams said. “So I kept myself pretty private. I don’t think it’s important for Arya to flash. This beat isn’t really about that. And everybody else has already done it on the show, so…”
And when it came to the day of shooting, Williams was hit with the reality that her scene was going to be treated as any other scene. That is to say that the director just wanted it done and didn’t have time to wait around.
“Then [the scene] was rushed. We were [directed by] David Nutter, who has a habit of speaking fast anyway,” said the actress. “By the end, we’re rushing to finish the scene and David is going, ‘Okay, you’re going to come in and do this and do that and, great, take your top off’ — and then walked off. And I’m like … ’Okay. Let’s do it.’”
As mentioned above, the scene did catch many viewers off-guard, as Arya has been portrayed as the opposite of a sex symbol on the series. That isn’t a slight against Williams and her beauty, but just that the character has always been seen as a badass, warrior, assassin type that rarely shown any interest in sex, at all. But as the actress explains, the scene is important for Arya and her story.
“It was really interesting because it’s a very human relationship for Arya,” Williams said. “This is something she’s stayed away from, an emotion we’ve never really seen her engage with. David and Dan were like, ‘It’s the end of the world, what else would you have her do?’ This may be is a moment where Arya accepts death tomorrow, which she never does — ‘Not Today.’”
She added, “So it was that moment where she says, ‘We’re probably going to die tomorrow, I want to know what this feels like before that happens.’ It’s interesting to see Arya be a bit more human, speak more normally about things people are scared of.”
“Game of Thrones” has four more episodes coming each Sunday night on HBO.
By age 18 in Westeros you should have:
– Had a pet.
– Moved out on your own.
– Travelled extensively.
– Had a kill list.
– Pretended to be the opposite sex to evade capture.
– Been blind for a while.
– Ticked at least three people off of your kill list.— HBO (@HBO_UK) April 21, 2019