Maisie Williams talks CyberBully, Season 5 of Game of Thrones
“I do think of 12-and-over as being ‘when I became an adult’,” Maisie Williams told told The Guardian in a recent interview. “It’s strange when people say they don’t feel like they’ve grown up yet… I’ve had to learn a lot.”
Williams is spending her time this month promoting her Channel 4 movie “CyberBully,” a topic she feels connected to, having found fame at such an early age.
“One thing we didn’t want it to be was patronising,” she says. “I just wanted it to be real. When I’m watching Hollyoaks and texts come up on the screen, with all the LOLs, it’s like: people don’t say that any more.” She is dismissive of those who don’t take cyberbullying as seriously as other forms of bullying. “I think it hurts even more,” she says. “Kids are killing themselves. It’s very serious.”
When it comes to giving details about Season 5 of Game of Thrones, she’s naturally very cagey, and unwilling to share spoilers. Still, for those who may know what’s coming in the next book, her words are telling. “…there’s a big ending for Arya. They’re basically breaking her down, and you get to see behind the cracks.” Exactly who “they” are or why they are “breaking her down” will have to wait for the new season. Williams herself only finds out via the scripts. Like many of the actors on the show, she hasn’t read the books, in order not to become confused as the TV show deviates from, and then passes, the original material.She acknowledges the latter. “We’re coming to the end now, so I don’t know what they’re going to do next year,” she says. “It’s the end of Arya, as far as anyone knows.” (The article does note she promised author George R.R. Martin to read them “soon.”)
As for coping with fame, and bullying, she recognizes which of the cast members have it down, and she should emulate. Her co-star Lena Headey, for one. “She’s a fantastic actress but she doesn’t live in the limelight. I never see headlines about her. I think she’s just cracked it – I don’t want to be on the pages of Hello! magazine.” Unfortunately for Williams, quotes later in the interview regarding Emma Watson and feminism guaranteed she’d find herself on the pages of every magazine around. (She’s still just 17, I suppose.)
Regardless of the controversy, the entire interview is in-depth, covering her home life, social life, and career after Game of Thrones casting. It’s well worth a read.
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