Game of Thrones’ Maisie Williams reveals the women of Winterfell are ‘back on top’ in final season

The long-standing cast member says that the female characters will rule the roost  
Girls on top: Maisie Williams says the new Game of Thrones is all about the female characters
Rebecca Campbell/ELLE UK
Jennifer Ruby6 September 2018

Maisie Williams has said that the final season of Game of Thrones will be the best yet for the show’s female characters.

Despite the popularity of the TV adaptation of George R.R. Martin’s fantasy novels, it has come under fire for its misogynistic portrayal of women in the past.

The British actress, 21, who has played Arya Stark in the hit HBO series since 2011, revealed the forthcoming eighth season will see the women of Winterfell “back on top”.

“For me, [Game of Thrones] is a medieval world in which women don’t have a lot of rights, and yet they still prevail,” she told Elle Magazine during a shoot for Coach's AW18 collection.

On top: Maisie Williams stars in Game of Thrones
Rebecca Campbell/ELLE UK

“But I do think that as the seasons have gone on it’s become more and more amazing for women. And this final season is going to be incredible.

“It just feels great, being on set with all these girls. They’re all ruling, you know, they’re all back on top – it’s pretty impressive.”

Read the full interview with Maisie Williams in Elle
Rebecca Campbell/ELLE UK

Williams said it was “amazing” to be able to play a darker side to her character in the last season, alongside “best friend” Sophie Turner, who plays her sister Sansa.

“I think until last season Arya was always killing the baddies. But then we saw her start to use those manipulative powers,” she said.

“It’s not until she had that whole dialogue with her sister Sansa in the last season that you realise what she’s become, that she’s being awful to someone who we love.”

Read the full interview in this month's Elle
ELLE UK

Williams added: “For me, it was a really great moment as an actor to be able to play the character you love as a baddie. It felt so amazing, even though it’s an awful scene.

“But she rights her wrongs in the end. Also Sophie is my best friend. Who gets to be on set with their best friend? Me! We lift each other up.”

Williams admitted that she’s pleased to have achieved her goal of being one of the only cast members to appear in every season of the long-running show.

“Season one to eight, that’s what I wanted. I was in the first episode and I want to be in the last,” she said.

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Since rising to fame in the hit show, Maisie has had roles in Netflix film iBoy, Nick Parks’ Early Man and Mary Shelley.

She is keen to play “complex” characters going forward, and is looking at characters both older and younger than herself.

“I’m still young, but I could play a 21-year-old with their own family – getting offered that sort of part is very intriguing,” she said.

“More recently, I’ve been reading scripts of 16-year-old characters and thinking, these are complex girls I couldn’t have played when I was 16, but now I can really get into their psyche.”

Read the full interview in the October issue of ELLE UK, on sale from 5 September.

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