Maisie Williams on Arya’s dark path in S4; new sample chapter of TWOW released

Arya Stark will be headed for even darker places this year, according to Maisie Williams. In several new interviews, the actress discusses the younger Stark daughter’s surprising travels with the Hound (Rory McCann) in season 4.

• “There is a dark turn in her that’s kind of frightening,” Maisie tells Entertainment Weekly. “She’s learning a lot from The Hound and she’s being heavily influenced by that. She’s so young, she’s like a sponge and getting knowledge. She’s heavily influenced by people around her. Being next to The Hound she’s learning his brutal ways.” Maisie adds that while the duo may try to help each other, Arya is “still awful to him and pulls on his strings and he’s very brutal and physical with her.”

• Arya recognizes that the Hound may have developed a soft spot for her after saving her from the Red Wedding, says the actress in an interview with Zap2It. “He could have just let her run in there and get herself killed, but he hit her over the head, which actually was the better option.” She also tells Zap2It that Arya is “more ruthless now and she’s not scared of how she’s going to feel about things anymore because nothing, there’s just nothing there.”

• Maisie sat down  recently for a very frank interview with Buzzfeed, discussing the ups and down of fame, schooling, and red carpets. The 16 year old actress shared her initial shock in learning about the Red Wedding, long before her popular Vine video. “It was just like, Why would they kill my family?” she tells Buzzfeed. “And then, in reading the script and growing up on this show and reading articles about Game of Thrones and talking to fans and stuff, I’ve now realized why good guys die. It’s a twisted world.”

And in other news, there’s a special treat for A Song of Ice and Fire readers this week- a new sample chapter from The Winds of Winter has been posted! The chapter is entitled “Mercy.” To say anymore would spoil those not as far along in the series, so visit George R.R. Martin’s website to read the chapter.

Ours is the Fury:  Just a reminder that all discussion of The Winds of Winter (and anything that hasn’t been revealed on Game of Thrones yet) must be covered by spoiler coding!

• Published on 03/27/2014 at 2:57 PM CDT
• Last updated on 10/21/2016 at 12:43 PM CDT