Flying High with Game of Thrones Star Maisie Williams

Maisie Williams, star of our Brit collections shoot, talks trolls, Hollywood fakes and drinking games. Don’t mess.

- Laura Craik

And so to Bath to interview Maisie Williams at home – the best sort of interview, because it’s quiet, the subject is relaxed and you get a better sense of someone than you can in any cafe. I turn up expectantly at her house, excited about what sort of mugs she’ll have (Cath Kidston? Ironic Game Of Thrones?) but, alas, she greets me at the door, pulls on a Barbour and takes me to a cafe. Who can blame her? I wouldn’t want some journalist decoding my crockery either.

Once settled with our teas, I get the fashion questions out of the way first. No offence to the industry, but it’s the least pressing thing I want to know about the outspoken star of the most downloaded TV show in history. So. Does she ever feel pressured to wear stuff she doesn’t want to? ‘I feel like I’ve always had a good sense of what I’ve wanted to look like. I’ve never wanted to look older. I’ve never wanted to wear revealing dresses. I don’t have it, so I don’t want to flaunt it,’ she laughs, glancing ruefully down at her chest in its Topshop corduroy dungarees.

For those who have never seen Game Of Thrones, Williams plays the top badass in a phalanx of strong female badasses – the hard-as-nails Arya Stark, a sword-wielding, vengeful heroine whose kill list grows longer every season. She was cast as Arya aged 12, yet still mustered the intensity of emotions required to play her convincingly. Where did all the anger come from? ‘Actually, I’ve never said this in an interview before but yeah, I have a temper. And I hate it! But that’s what worked with [playing] Arya. I know what it’s like to be really mad!’