Arya’s final season on Game of Thrones didn’t go the way anyone expected. After years of recitation of "The List," fans assumed the younger Stark would eventually take off for King’s Landing and claim the face of the grandest prize of all, and the last significant name still standing, Cersei Lannister. Instead, Arya got to add an unexpected kill to her CV, The Night King and wound up walking away from her chance to take out Cersei at the advice of The Hound. However, it turns out actress Maisie Williams wanted Arya to kill Cersei, as did Cersei actress Lena Headey.
Williams, who was cast at the age of 11, has grown up in the role of Arya. To her, the character’s trajectory from tomboy wannabe to deadly assassin has been her entire teenage years. Arya’s moment of taking the Hound’s words to heart, and walking away from her quest for vengeance to live, may have been a sign of the character growing up and moving on from the trauma of her childhood. (Not to mention that after killing the Night King, Cersei seems like a serious comedown in stature.)
But Williams had to admit, after years of waiting to kill Cersei, she was a bit disappointed when she first read the script and learned her character would walk away.
Speaking to Entertainment Weekly, Williams said:
It turns out Cersei actress Lena Headey also initially reacted with disappointment too. In her own interview with EW, Headey said she had always assumed her end was coming at the point of Arya’s dagger.
Like Headey, Williams realized the ending was more poetic, and for her character, one filled with hope.
As far as Williams is concerned, her character got something she’d never dreamed possible: A happy ending.
A happy ending for Arya Stark is more than anyone could have ever hoped. Let’s hope she finds what’s west of Westeros too.
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