Image Credit: HBO
Warning: This article contains spoilers for Game of Thrones Season 6, Episode 8, titled No One. You have been warned.
Ever since the synopsis for No One was revealed early this month, it was apparent that things does not bode well for Arya's future. The title alone made it clear that the episode will center on Arya and her oncoming showdown with the Faceless Men.
In this case, the youngest Stark daughter has to face off with the organization's ruthless assassin The Waif, played by Faye Marsay.
With the photos and video preview for No One featuring very few teases on Arya, some fans may have thought her future could be at risk. Well, it turns out that was the plan all along. Of course, Maisie Williams' character isn't going down that easy, and in the hit series' latest episode, we witness Arya's cunning side as she led The Waif to a dark cave in order to gain the advantage of fighting her in complete darkness, like she did when she spent months training blind.
In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Williams talks about her major showdown in the episode, as well as Arya's decision to turn away from The Faceless Men.
On why Arya can't follow Jaquen H'ghar's path, the 19-year-old English actress said:
She sort of tried that with the Faceless Men too.
I had a big talk with [director] Mark Mylod about that – when Arya leaves The House of Black and White. He asked me if Arya ever really thought she was going to be become a Faceless Man. I said, "I don't think so. I don't think she ever believed she could give everything up."
She tried. She really tried. And maybe there's a glimpse in the middle of it where the stress came off her and she found this moment like … like when people mediate and think of nothing. Where she was like, "Oh, this is cool."
But what's totally shaped her is the whole reason why she's here. If everything hadn't happened she'd be home at Winterfell with her mom and dad.
She can't think like how they want her to because the whole reason she's there is that she wants to go back. She's tried, but she can't do this.
The Waif obviously didn't like Arya in the series, but in real life, training with Waif actress Faye Marsay was pivotal to Williams' harsh scenes with her current archenemy. She said:
It was great having [Waif actress Faye Marsay] with me because we spurred each other on in training. I had a bit of pride. I've done some sword-fighting before. But she had to be better than me and every time she'd be getting [the fighting] right and I'd be getting it wrong. I'd be like, "Hang on, I'm going to lose, but I still need to look like I'm getting better." And every time I was doing well she'd be like, "Yeah, but I have to look the best." So it was the healthy way to train.
The actress then explained how her last scene in The Broken Man, where she was stabbed in the stomach repeatedly, was something she and the No One team wanted the audiences to see in order to feel like Arya wasn't going to make it. She said:
We wanted people to think this could be the end, or the start of the end. Like maybe her wound is going to fester – like The Hound. We did so many different takes of emerging out of the water the first time she's stabbed and sliced. I had been to a music festival so I hadn't slept the whole weekend. Then I was jumping in the Irish sea. It was a totally manic day.
We did a million different takes. We wanted it to be real frantic and panicked. Arya hasn't been emotional in a long time and we wanted to bring that emotion. When it's a long-running series you have go give her light and shade. It's the first time she thinks she's not going to make it and it's scary. She ends peoples' lives like there's no tomorrow, but when it's finally happening to her she's petrified. She's petrified of dying. She's got so much more to do. And just the sheer anger, too — The Waif? Really? Of all the people to kill her.
Apparently, the actress had some say in what Arya's stunts/actions had to be in the current episode. As Williams cited, she knows her character now, and with that she's figured out how to portray her character's action scenes better. She said:
...There was this constant spectrum [of conversation with director Mylod] during the chase of about how petrified she needs to look, but also how safe she is. Arya's been very lucky with the people she's encountered so far.
The whole time she was with The Hound she took a back seat because he was really good. So I wanted her to look like she was struggling.
I didn't want [the chase stunts] to be unnecessary or superhuman. I got on set and they were [going to have Arya] rolling around, and diving, and I was like, "That looks amazing, but no." I'd be like, "Why would she run over there? She'd just duck under here and just get out." It doesn't look quite as cinematic, maybe, but they'll have to find something else if they want cinematic.
And I felt awful because the job of the stunt guys is to make everything look as crazy and cool as possible. But I know Arya now. In the beginning it was a lot of guesswork and now I've figured her out. You want to be happy with the work you've done.
With all these events in Arya's life showcased in parallel to the events of The Hound's journey, I can't help but think Brienne and Jaime aren't the only ones set to have a reunion. There might be an upcoming one for Arya and The Hound as well. In any case, it's apparent that Arya can now take care of herself. If not a reunion with The Hound, she might eventually meet up with Sansa and on Snow at the very least.
You can read the full interview here.
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