Game of Thrones star Maisie Williams was under the impression that her beloved character Arya Stark was a lesbian up until the final season.
Maisie Williams thought that her Game of Thrones character, Arya Stark, was a lesbian for most of the show’s run. Regarded by many critics as one of the best television series in history, HBO’s Game of Thrones ran for eight seasons from 2011 to 2019. The series won a total of 59 Emmys over the course of its run, with the final season being nominated for 32. As a result, Game of Thrones season 8 broke the record for most nominations received by a single television series in one year.
The daughter of Ned Stark and his wife Catelyn, Arya is one of five Stark children, and one of Game of Thrones‘ main characters. Appearing in 59 out of a total of 73 episodes, Arya was a fan favorite for her attitude and powerful character development, which saw her become a seasoned assassin by the time Game of Thrones ended. Maturing from a feisty young girl to a brutal, badass warrior, Arya was one of the few principle characters who did not have a love interest. That changed in Game of Thrones season 8, where she briefly had a romance with Gendry Baratheon.
In an interview with Teen Vogue, Williams admits that she had assumed Arya was a lesbian until nearly the very end of Game of Thrones. That was why one particular moment between Arya and Gendry came as a shock to Williams. Many Game of Thrones fans were also under the impression that Arya might have been a queer character, and there was a backlash against Arya’s romance with Gendry. Read Williams’ full comment below:
“The first time that I was surprised by Arya I guess was probably in the final series where she whips off her clothes and sleeps with Gendry. I thought that Arya was queer, you know? So … yeah. That was a surprise.”
Considering that Game of Thrones had a handful of queer characters – from Gemma Whelan’s Yara Greyjoy to Pedro Pascal’s Oberyn Martell – it isn’t a stretch of the imagination that Arya could have been queer as well. Though sleeping with Gendry could still mean that Arya identifies as bisexual or pansexual, both Williams’ and fans’ assumptions that Arya might have been a lesbian were dashed. Game of Thrones season 8 has widely been regarded as an immense disappointment on many fronts, and Arya’s relationship with Gendry only added fuel to that fire for certain camps.
Aside from dispelling the assumption that Arya was a lesbian, her relationship with Gendry was also controversial due to the perceived lack of chemistry between the two characters. While Gendry would fall completely in love with Arya, Arya would be turned off by this sudden emotional entanglement and leave Gendry to continue her adventurous life. One could actually read this as Arya realizing that she might, perhaps, be a lesbian after all. With Game of Thrones having come to an end, however, it seems that Arya Stark’s sexuality may forever be left to audience interpretation.
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