‘Game Of Thrones’ Cast Member Reveals Mini-Spoiler

Maisie Williams, the 22-year-old actress who plays the role of assassin Arya Stark on “Game of Thrones,” admits she cringed at this week’s Battle of Winterfell scene and wondered whether fans would hate it. In the episode, Arya Stark kills the Night King–even though Williams says her own boyfriend thought the task should fall to another character, Jon Snow.

“It was so unbelievably exciting. But I immediately thought that everybody would hate it; that Arya doesn’t deserve it. The hardest thing is in any series is when you build up a villain that’s so impossible to defeat and then you defeat them. It has to be intelligently done because otherwise, people are like, ‘Well, [the villain] couldn’t have been that bad when some 100-pound girl comes in and stabs him.’ You gotta make it cool,” Williams said after the episode aired.

Kit Harrington, who plays Jon Snow, said the surprise twist is typical of the series, which is known for keeping fans guessing. Even he thought his character would be the one to finally defeat the Night King.

“I was surprised, I thought it was gonna be me! But I like it. It gives Arya’s training a purpose to have an end goal. It’s much better how she does it the way she does it,” Harrington said. “I think it will frustrate some in the audience that Jon’s hunting the Night King and you’re expecting this epic fight and it never happens — that’s kind of ‘Thrones’. But it’s the right thing for the characters. There’s also something about it not being the person you expect. The young lady sticks it to the man.”