The wait is nearly over for new Game of Thrones episodes. One thing fans have never considered is the death of Arya, played by Maisie Willaims. Both the actress and her long line of admires usually figure that the young daughter of Ned Stark will be fine. That might not be so true when Season 6 kicks off in just a few short days. According to Williams, her character returns to the small screen finding herself in a pretty terrible place. Says Maisie about the blind plight of her alter ego.
“She’s still very much the student. And she’s still very much the underdog. She’s not the same Arya that we’ve seen in previous seasons. Sometimes, you watch Arya scenes and you think, ‘She’s got this. Don’t worry.’ This is a season where you watch and go, ‘Oh, she really doesn’t.'”
Maisie Willaims isn’t the only one who feels this way about Arya’s plight in these new upcoming episodes. Sophie Turner plays the actress’ on-screen sister Sansa. And she totally concurs with these statements. She had this to say in an interview with TVLine.
“[Arya is] so vulnerable this season, and it’s so exciting to see her in that place, because you see her as this badass. And she still is a badass. But she’s been dealt the upper hand and she’s been very lucky, and this is about her really getting challenged for the first time,. It’s going to be a big season for her.”
Arya Stark was blinded by Jaquen H’gar (Tom Wlaschiha), after killing Meryn Trant (Ian Beattie), a life she was not meant to take. This season the girl is still blind, struggling through the streets of Braavos. Her passion and drive, along with her faltering spirit will only help draw audiences closer to the already quite popular character. Maisie Willaims offers this.
“It’s interesting for people to see characters they’ve invested so much energy into now not pull through and not keep up that bravado.”
Arya will suffer through quite a bought of what Maisie Willaims calls ‘pure loneliness’. She will also set out to learn as much as she can from The Waif and J’qen. The actress further explains what Arya and the audience will experience this year.
“At the beginning, she’s like, ‘Whether or not I like it, I have to trust these people. The feisty Arya doesn’t kick in until a little bit later. She starts rebelling, and she gets her confidence back.”
For fans who are worried that this new season will spoil the upcoming book The Winds of Winter, series creator David Benioff recently said that this season is so “divergent” from George R.R. Martin’s stories that fans will be equally surprised when the book is released. And that includes Arya’s story. Game of Thrones returns to HBO on Sunday, April 24.