Bristolian Game of Thrones star Maisie Williams has confessed that she 'resented' her character in the hit Emmy award-winning series as she started to go through puberty. The actress, who was born in Bristol, reflected on becoming an adult while filming the long-running fantasy epic during an interview with GQ style.
Maisie, who is now 24, was cast as Arya Stark just months after she celebrated her 12th birthday in 2009. She then spent a decade working on the HBO show until its final season, which aired in 2019.
Remembering the day she was given a bra in the costume trailer, Maisie said: "I think that when I started becoming a woman, I resented Arya because I couldn’t express who I was becoming. And then I also resented my body, because it wasn’t aligned with the piece of me that the world celebrated.”
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Maisie did not walk the red carpet for Game of Thrones until the Los Angeles launch of the third series in 2013. She said: “I’m grateful we were protected from it until that point, too. If that had happened when I was 12, I’m not sure what that would have done to me mentally.”
In her latest role, Maisie will be playing model Jordan Mooney in Danny Boyle's TV series about the Sex Pistols. However, she has admitted that she was hesitant to accept the role at first, given that the script demanded she strip off.
The Bristolian actress features alongside Queen's Gambit actor Thomas Brodie-Sangster and Talulah Riley, who is best known for roles in St. Trinian's and Westworld, in the upcoming series. She said: “Just because of everything that happens in the industry and all the horror stories I’ve heard. I want to be in this show because I’m the best person to do this, not because I’m the only girl who’ll take her top off.”
After sharing her concerns with the bosses of the show, Boyle sent her a clarification that eased her mind. She said: "Jordan was a political statement.
“Her entire ethos was turning the male gaze in on itself, and it was overtly sexual in a way that made other people feel ashamed. If I take my top off, I want to make other people feel uncomfortable.”
Although she was born in Bristol, Maisie grew up in Clutton, Somerset, and then moved to Bath to study Performing Arts at Bath Dance College. She was recruited for Game of Thrones by an agent who spotted her in an improv class, and the role of Arya came to her after her second ever audition.
Maisie won the role of Arya over 300 other actresses, and it was her first professional job. Over the course of the series' lifetime, Maisie scooped a number of awards for her portrayal of Arya, including the BBC Radio 1 Teen Award for Best British Actor, the Portal Award for Best Supporting Actress, and the Portal Award for Best Young Actor - for which she was the youngest actor, at 15, to have won.
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