Game of Thrones eighth season fully shifted into gear on Sunday night ahead of the Battle of Winterfell. We’ve answered plenty of questions on the finer details of “A Knight Of The Seven Kingdoms” and dug into the return of a Good Boy, Dany’s reaction to learning that she’s related to Jon, the reason why Tormund is obsessed with Brienne, and what the Night King wants. One of the buzzier moments, however, involved Arya Stark getting it on with Gendry after they flirted over the subjects of death and weaponry. As one does!
Maisie Williams spoke with Entertainment Weekly about the scene, which sees Arya making the first move on the eve before the Night King’s army presumably arrives. The youngest surviving Stark kid (RIP, Rickon) had decided that she wants to lose her virginity before the end of the world, which makes sense — to live a little before dying. Yet upon first reading the script, Williams thought the whole thing was a massive prank from the Thrones showrunners:
Williams initially suspected the scene between Arya and her handsome friend and former traveling companion Gendry (Joe Dempsie) wasn’t actually legit. Showrunners David Benioff and Dan Weiss have pranked their cast by sending them bogus scripts in the past (such as sending Kit Harington a scene in season 1 where Jon Snow’s face gets horribly disfigured). “At first, I thought it was a prank,” Williams says. “I was like, ‘Yo, good one.’ And [the showrunners were] like, ‘No, we haven’t done that this year.’ Oh f—k!””
The copulative act did pose some potential difficulties, though. Audiences have watched Williams, who was a tween during season one (the Arya character first appeared as an 11-year-old girl), grow up before their very eyes. Not only that, but Gendry knew Arya from a tender age after she fled Westeros following the beheading of her father. So, it’s understandable that while some viewers were down for Arya to lose her virginity, other audience members may have felt conflicted. For that reason, HBO’s UK Twitter account preemptively issued a telling tweet on Sunday morning. “By age 18 in Westeros you should have,” the tweet read. “- Had a pet. – Moved out on your own. – Travelled extensively. – Had a kill list. – Pretended to be the opposite sex to evade capture. – Been blind for a while. – Ticked at least three people off of your kill list.”
By age 18 in Westeros you should have:
– Had a pet.
– Moved out on your own.
– Travelled extensively.
– Had a kill list.
– Pretended to be the opposite sex to evade capture.
– Been blind for a while.
– Ticked at least three people off of your kill list.— HBO (@HBO_UK) April 21, 2019
In other words, Arya’s definitely an adult, and she’s been through so much more than non-Westeros-residing adults could possibly endure. Let the lady (who refuses to be called a lady) have some fun before death arrives at Winterfell.
(Via Entertainment Weekly)
