Exclusive interview with Maisie Williams

This exclusive interview with Maisie Williams was made available to us by HBO and Sky Germany. As her acting debut the young actress plays Arya Stark on the HBO fantasy drama "Game of Thrones" which is based on the fantasy saga by George R. R. Martin. In this interview Maisie talks about how her character's adventure continues in season 3 and what sort of reaction she gets from fans.

Note: © HBO/Sky/myFanbase 2013 - The interview is exclusive to myFanbase and may not be published on other websites or the like. You may share the first 2 questions or up to 160 characters if you link back to this site. Translations other than English and German may be posted with full credit including the writer's name and link to this site.
Foto: Maisie Williams, Game of Thrones - Copyright: 2013 Home Box Office, Inc. All rights reserved.
Maisie Williams, Game of Thrones
© 2013 Home Box Office, Inc. All rights reserved.

1. Can you set the scene for your character at the beginning of season three?

At the end of season 2, Arya was still trying to get home to Winterfell. She looked like she was out of danger - but obviously that doesn't happen! The last time we saw her was when Jaqen gave her this mysterious coin and said if she gave it to any man from Braavos and said some special words he would take her to Braavos to train with Jaqen. For Season 3 we pick up where Arya and her little gang left off. They've been travelling for a while after that, but nothing much has happened.

2. Will the coin prove significant at some point?

Yeah. She doesn't really think it means anything when she receives it but she hears people speaking - she hears the words "valar morghulis." She's not sure of the language but she hears them say it and then thinks maybe this coin is going to mean a lot more than she originally thought. It does come into its own little use at the end.

3. How does Arya change this coming season?

She gets a lot more brutal and harder. She's not so tentative anymore. It’s because she's seen too much for a young person. There's definitely no going back and she realises that she's not going to get home anytime soon - who's she been kidding? So she's not trusting of very many people, things aren’t going well and she's going downhill. I think she's a bit of a mess in her head. I'm worried about her a bit!

4. How is her battle training going?

Well, you don't see her training too much but you do get the feeling that she's getting a lot more confident with the sword and could potentially do a lot of damage now. There's a little bit in the beginning when she surprises someone - she just looks like a little kid and then she gets up and shows them who's boss. She also uses a bow at one point. That was fun to film. The bow was huge - a longbow is anything your height or above so being a lot shorter than most people anyway, this was an extremely long bow for me! But it was great fun to use.

5. Do you enjoy filming the physical stuff?

Yeah. I've always been a quite physical person anyway and there have never been big fight scenes that have been too much. I think I've had it pretty easy in fact - my scenes when I've been using a sword have never taken longer than a day.

Foto: Maisie Williams, Game of Thrones - Copyright: 2013 Home Box Office, Inc. All rights reserved.
Maisie Williams, Game of Thrones
© 2013 Home Box Office, Inc. All rights reserved.

6. How come you’ve always been a physical person, as you say?

I dance. I've always wanted to be a dancer. It wasn't until Game of Thrones that dancing took a back seat and acting came forwards. But I still like to incorporate it and I go to a performing arts college where we specialise mainly in dance at the moment.

7. Some of your swordplay training in series two looked like dancing…

Yes! It was like choreography the way we learnt it, just using a sword instead. I guess because I didn't struggle so much with picking up the sword fighting, it was easier to kind of think about other things that you'd be thinking of instead of just trying to get the steps right. It was one of the things I didn't find as difficult as I thought I was going to and that was great. It meant I could concentrate on the acting.

8. Who are you closest to on the set?

I get on really well with Ben Whishaw and Eros Vlahos and Joe Dempsie as well who plays Gendry. I’m also really good friends with Sophie Turner and Isaac Hempstead Wright although because of our storylines I never actually see them on set. We had a little meet up a couple of weeks ago and we're all going over to America soon for the premiere so that's going to be great. It's nice to experience all these things with them because we get on so well and we've sort of all grown up together. We can talk about what it used to be like and how things have changed. It's nice to know I have those two people that I started off with who are always going to be in the industry.

9. What sort of reaction do you get from fans?

When they see me in the street, they come up really shyly and say, "Are you, um, in Game of Thrones?" It’s extra confusing for them at the moment because I'm doing a film where they want me to have long hair so they put extensions in. People say, "Oh, I thought you cut your hair? It's grown quickly!" But yeah, it's lovely when I meet people because they're so in to the show and know so much about your character - and sometimes they know a lot about you as well. Luckily Arya is a character that people like, so they are happy to see you.

10. Do people assume that you're going to be like Arya, i.e. tomboyish and tough?

I think people who haven't met me do and then they realise how much older I am than I look on camera. I wouldn't personally say I was much of a tomboy but I think compared to some people I am. Of course you have to remember that we have only ever seen Arya having to be strong. No one knows what she was like before all of this really. It's obvious that she didn't like being a normal young girl. But that doesn't mean that she's necessarily a tomboy. I just think the world that she's living in now is very much a man's world and so to get people to listen to her, she has to act that way.

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