Game of Thrones star Maisie Williams has weighed in on her character's "controversial" sex scene in the final season, revealing that she was surprised when she first read about it in the script - but probably not for the reason you might expect.
Williams debuted as Arya Stark in the very first episode of the HBO show when she was just 12 years old, and would go on to become one of the most popular stars of the mega-successful fantasy series over the next eight years. Arya's sexuality was never specifically addressed until season 8, but fans generally assumed that the tomboy-ish character identified as queer... as did Williams!
“The first time that I was surprised by Arya I guess was probably in the final series where she whips off her clothes and sleeps with Gendry,” Maisie said during a Teen Vogue Firsts video interview. “I thought that Arya was queer, you know? So… yeah. That was a surprise.”
Showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss were known for sending out fake script pages to protect spoilers and attempt to fool the cast, and Williams initially thought she was being pranked.
“At first, I thought it was a prank,” Williams added. “I was like, ‘Yo, good one.’ And [the showrunners were] like, ‘No, we haven’t done that this year.’ Oh [frick]!””
Because so many fans were under the impression that Arya was gay, her sex scene with Gendry dew quite a bit of backlash. Of course, you can't blame the writers for going in a different direction than viewers hoped, but we know GOT fans are more than a little touchy about this stuff in general!
Williams has previously said that she'd be open to reprising the role should the opportunity arise. As of right now, HBO doesn't have any plans to continue on from the divisive series finale (all of the spin-offs currently in development are prequels), but that doesn't mean it won't happen someday.
We'd certainly be down for catching up with an older Arya as she makes her way around Westeros as a master assasin!