‘Game Of Thrones’: Maisie Williams On Arya’s Hardening Heart & Gearing Up For Season 5

“Game of Thrones” is gone until next year, but not forgotten.

We’re still thinking about the adventures that await Maisie Williams’ Arya Stark, who had the Season 4 finale parting shot – as she sailed on a boat to Braavos, after abandoning her traveling companion, The Hound (something we discussed in the first part of our interview with the teenage actress).

But AccessHollywood.com spoke about much more with Maisie during that chat, including whether she feels there is a parallel between Arya and a famous “Star Wars” character. She also addressed Season 5 of “Thrones,” which begins shooting next month, and reacted to the unexpected Sansa Stark Twist (in S4, Episode 8).

PHOTOS: ‘Game Of Thrones’ Characters Who Have Died On The Show

AccessHollywood.com: Do you see Arya kind of like Darth Vader in the making? Like she’s the Darth Vader of ‘Game of Thrones’?
Maisie Williams:
Yeah, just… misunderstood Darth Vader (laughs).

Access: I’m assuming you’ve seen the movies, and you know Darth started out good before he became bad.
Maisie:
Yeah, exactly. Exactly. And you pick him up kind of already at that stage and then you find out so much more about him before. And, it’s the same with Arya, although we’re actually seeing that twisted path, which is almost more disturbing than you hating a character and then realizing they’re actually quite good. To actually see one of your favorite characters — of such a lovely young, funny girl, slowly be chipped and chipped away into something completely else, I think, even for me, it was really hard to play, and I’m reading scenes, like, ‘God, this is not the Arya that I thought I was going to be playing.’ And yeah, it’s different and I really, really hope people still continue to follow her story line…

READ: ‘Game Of Thrones’: Pedro Pascal On That Oberyn Martell Fight Twist

Access: Do you think if she’d met Brienne in Season 2 or Season 3 it could have saved Arya? Brienne is one of the most noble and good characters on the show…
Maisie:
Yeah, I mean, I feel like this is always kind of been coming for Arya. I think, had she maybe not been at The Red Wedding, maybe it could have been saved a bit, but I think… she kind of gave up on her family a little while ago, on the fact that she’s actually going to get home, a little while ago, and since then, she’s been trying to find what she’s going to do next. And I think even if she was to be picked up by someone, you know, more helpful and [who] could’ve [helped keep her] safer, I don’t know if she would’ve necessarily liked that. I don’t think she likes to be in the same place for too long, not just because of safety, but because she doesn’t really fit anywhere any more, and yeah, it’s sad.

Access: Are you hoping she gets to see any of the people that she’s met along her ‘Game of Thrones’ journey so far, next season?
Maisie:
Yeah. Well, I know there’s speculation all the time because knowing Jaqen H’ghar is a faceless man, like she could’ve met him a million times before and never even known it, and she could meet him a million times again and never even know it and that’s the exciting thing. And I’m desperate to get the scripts because David [Benioff] and Dan [Weiss] have hinted little things to me about what’s to come. … The possibilities for Arya’s future are kind of — there’s so many different ways that this could kind of go now and we do have a book, obviously, to go by. But, you know, they can literally do anything. This is a fresh start for Arya and they could choose to go with the books or they could write something completely new and that’s what I’m really excited to see.

Access: Was it thrilling for you to see how excited people were this season over The Hound and Arya, and how people were creating fan fiction — Arya and The Hound, buddy cop comedy.
Maisie:
Yeah! So many people said that we should have a spin off show, which is really, really funny.

Access: What did you think of the Sansa twist, seeing as you and Sophie [Turner, who plays Sansa] are such good friends, and Sansa is now someone to be reckoned with. There she was [in Episode 8], stepping out in that outfit… What did you think of that?
Maisie:
And I am so thrilled because Sophie, personally, has had some really awful comments over the years and really harsh things because people can’t differentiate the difference between Sophie and Sansa and it’s been awful and people have been horrible and I’m so happy that people are now eating their words because actually, we’ve known this for a long time – that Sansa’s gonna have this twist and have this change. People really underestimate her. She’s been around some extremely powerful, manipulative people for a very long time now and she’s using her knowledge very, very wisely and that scene… I remember when she was filming it, she took a picture of her new dress and showed it to me and her dark hair, and I just remember being like, ‘Oh my God, this is it. This is the new Sansa.’ And I’m so thrilled for her and yeah, it’s been one of my favorite story lines this year. She is doing fantastically.

WATCH: ‘Game of Thrones’ Cast Reveals Favorite Shocking Moments

“Game of Thrones” returns in 2015 on HBO.

Jolie Lash

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