Maisie Williams on Game of Thrones’ final season and first year connections

Last Updated on August 2, 2021

2019 seems to be the year of endings. We've got the Skywalker saga coming to a close with STAR WARS: EPISODE IX, the Infinity Saga concluding with AVENGERS: ENDGAME, and settling the battle for Westeros once and for all in the eighth and final season of Game of Thrones. While speaking with Entertainment Weekly, Maisie Williams discussed the final season of the HBO series, teasing that "there's a lot of death this year." No shit.

Williams also said that the final batch of episodes will come with plenty of connections to the first season of the series. "After reading the scripts I went back and watched season 1 again because so much of it refers back to that season. There are so many scenes that will look similar. And also I watched just to remind myself of the arc I’ve taken already. I wanted Arya to go full circle and try for some kind of normalcy like when she was younger," Williams said. "Basically this year it’s like she has a dual personality — there are so many emotions and memories that come flooding back when you’re with your family and the things that you fight for become very different, yet she’s also remaining on this path to try and kill Cersei and remembering her list and getting closer to that. So there’s this split with Arya between trying to be who she wants to be — getting back to the naïveté and innocence with her family — and unfinished business." Speaking of family, the final season will find sisters Arya (Willaims) and Sansa (Sophie Turner) more united than ever before.

It’s not often you see a character siding with Sansa who’s not manipulating her. Last season it was really tough for Sansa because Jon was thinking with his penis and it kind of made Sansa look bitter. This season you see Arya teaming with Sansa and sometimes calling out Jon. It felt nice and powerful to stand next to Sophie. Sophie and I are the tightest of friends when sitting across from anyone, so no acting required.

Although Arya has certainly had plenty of her own significant moments throughout the course of Game of Thrones, the final season will find her taking part in a major battle for the first time. "I feel like I’ve always been a part of this big show but in terms of being part of the episodes that really define us, this is my first taste of it," Williams said. The actress also expressed her thoughts on how fans may react to the series finale.

People don’t want it to end. No matter how you end it, people don’t want it to end. So the ending is not going to be okay, because ‘the end’ is not okay. You know what I mean? I think the way we end it is right. And I think it’s time.

The eighth and final season of Game of Thrones will debut on HBO on April 14, 2019.