The Game of Thrones actress plans to wait until the show ends to read the Game of Thrones books.
Much of the fandom and discussion around the Game of Thrones TV series adapted from the A Song of Ice and Fire fantasy series by George R.R. Martin has to do with kinds of fans. Are you a TV show fan? Are you a book fan? Are you a book fan and a TV show fan? And, if you fall into that last category, how do you feel about the HBO adaptation? Is one form of storytelling more valid than the other?
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This discussion is even more fascinating when you bring gate-keeping and bases of knowledge into it. Millions of people watch Game of Thrones, but each demographic subsection of the fandom is coming at the show with a different perspectives and with a different base of knowledge. This even includes the Game of Thrones cast...
In a recent interview with Deadline, Maisie Williams (aka Arya Stark) mentioned that she has not yet read the A Song of Ice and Fire books on which her on-screen character is based, explaining...
When I started, my mum deemed them inappropriate. [Laughs.] But also, at the time, I didn’t really understand the importance of that in my craft. I was a non-actor, never trained, and I never really had any passion for reading. I just was Arya when I was younger, and that’s kind of the way it worked out.
Now that the 19-year-old is mature enough to dive into the books, Williams wants to wait. The TV show has passed the books, and — with the announcement that there will only be two more seasons of the TV show— there isn't really that much more time to wait. Williams said of eventually reading the books...
I brought what I brought to Arya, and I’m thrilled with the character I’ve strangely created now. It would be amazing to go back and read them after the fact, and see exactly what she was supposed to be like ... But I keep thinking how funny it’d be, if someone sees me on the London Underground reading Game of Thrones.
What else can we expect from Williams' post-Game of Thrones life? Williams said of her post-Game of Thrones acting career that she would like for things to happen organically, as it has with projects like her starring role in Carol Morley's 2014 coming-of-age film The Falling:
Everything that’s happened in my career so far has happened really organically, and that’s the thing I’m going to take with me. But when the time is right, I know I’ll be able, as an actor, to create a new character and have the confidence to do that.
Williams pointed towards fellow British thespian Maggie Smith (Downton Abbey, the Harry Potter films, so much more) as a acting role model within the industry, saying...
To still be creating new characters, and to still be smashing it at her age… It’s very difficult to grow old gracefully in Hollywood, and I can only hope I get to do that. A career that’s so varied, and working with so many people, helping them to make their careers go better as they help you to make your career go better; that is what I would love to have.
From what we've seen from the talented actress so far — from her Emmy-nominated role as Arya Stark in Game of Thrones to her should-have-been-Emmy-nominated role in Doctor Who — Williams' wish of a long, varied might just come true...
