Maisie Williams on playing Arya Stark in "Game of Thrones". Image Source: Mashable 

Maisie Williams on playing Arya Stark in "Game of Thrones".

Actress Maisie Williams recently spoke to GQ Style where she mentioned her growing up and becoming one of the most recognizable young actresses by portraying Arya Stark for eight years on HBO’s "Game of Thrones." She was finalized to play Arya Stark on Game of Thrones just a few months after she turned twelve in 2009.

Maisie shared that she resented playing Arya Stark on the show as it stopped her from expressing herself as a woman. The actress said that when she started to grow up and evolve into a woman, she started to resent Arya because playing a tomboyish character restrained her from expressing how she felt. She added that she resented her body as well because that did not align with the piece of her that the world was celebrating. 

The casting director, Robert Sterne, shared that he remembers Maisie’s first audition, which was honest and brave and unfazed, direct and funny. Maisie Williams debuted on the red carpet during the premiere of season three of the show in Los Angeles as the makers avoided getting the younger cast of the show on the red carpet. When asked about it, Maisie expressed gratitude that the younger cast members were shielded from public scrutiny.

Maisie Williams as Arya Stark in Game of Thrones. Image Source: Vanity Fair 

The actress started to learn how to handle the pressure of fame by twisting it into a new form of motivation along with being grounded as much as she could. Maisie shared that the show was a success and soon people started to recognize her, which led to her changing around her, so she decided to study at a dance school in her late teens, dividing her time between shoots and performances.

Back in 2019 while talking to Vogue, she shared that it was around the second or third season that her body started to mature and evolve and she was on her way to becoming a woman but her character, Arya Stark was trying to disguise as a boy and for that, Arya had to have short hair, was covered in dirt and would just try to make her overall appearance look a little manly. The actress added that the costume she wore at the time had a strap across her chest to flatten any growth she had at the time which made her feel horrible for six months. Maisie added that she sort of felt ashamed for a while too.

The interviewer mentioned that the actress's recollections of the show were wise but not calculated, and she had fun filming the show throughout the eight seasons, but there were some constrictions. When she was asked what she missed, she answered nothing. She had to explain that it’s not healthy to miss it because she loved it, and she looks back at it with pride and very fondly, but she would not like to make herself sad about the greatest thing that has happened to her.

Maisie Williams mentioned that after the show ended, she felt like she was being born again. Image Source: Teen Vogue 

Maisie Williams mentioned that after the show ended, she felt like she was being born again as she was free to play a new character on screen, which excited her. But she added that she was hesitant to take up a role in the six-episode limited series "Pistol" after she was informed that there would be a lot of nudity. She was supposed to play Jordan Mooney, a punk fashion icon who worked at the store SEX, and during the interview, she detailed how she got the part.

Maisie revealed that after the producers informed her about the nudity, she expressed her reluctance but stated that she wanted to be on the show because she was the best person for the job, not because she was the only girl who would take her top off. She had later expressed that playing Jordan was a political statement and her entire characteristic was about how she made people feel ashamed as she managed to turn the male gaze on her which was done in an overly sexual way.

Inspired by this, Maisie attended a second zoom audition wearing a sheer top without a bra with Danny Boyle, and he was impressed to see how prepared the actress was. The director said that playing Jordan was a perfect opportunity for Maisie Williams to own up to a big and essential character on-screen and added that she is a real actor. Danny Boyle drew comparisons between Jordan and Maisie by stating that the actress is like her character as they both sort of rejecting the very idea of everyday life. 

Maisie Williams as Jordan Mooney in 'Pistol'. Image Source: Cinemablend

Maisie was lucky to meet Jordan in real life who described her as a person who never really wants to be encompassed by security but instead wants to push limits. Talking about learning from the character herself, Maisie described that it was a lot of pressure but she was never confrontational and just knew what was what and would say it outright if she felt that things weren't right. To prepare for the character, Maisie did not go all method actor but she mentioned that she reveled in the opportunity to detach herself from her own life for a while and technology as she described that during the era of Piston, people were not in constant touch so she went ahead to clam her mind.

The actress said that she had to be very keen while playing Jordan on-screen because she as Maisie is very emotive but Jordan was just constant so she had to stop moving her eyebrows because Jordan's expression is painted.