Warning: This story may contain spoilers for Game of Thrones.
It’s a case of fantasy copying real life: actors Maisie Williams and Sophie Turner are close friends offscreen. And now it turns out that their onscreen characters, as sisters Arya Stark and Sansa Stark in Game of Thrones, get to be just as in-step in the fictional universe — “no acting required,” as Williams told Entertainment Weekly in a new interview about the upcoming Thrones season eight. (The two have spent most of the show’s arc on separate sides of the land of Westeros, fighting their own battles.)
“It’s not often you see a character siding with Sansa who’s not manipulating her,” Williams told EW. “Last season it was really tough for Sansa because Jon was thinking with his penis and it kind of made Sansa look bitter. This season you see Arya teaming with Sansa and sometimes calling out Jon. It felt nice and powerful to stand next to Sophie. Sophie and I are the tightest of friends when sitting across from anyone, so no acting required.”
That bodes well for those who want the Stark sisters to finally have a happy moment, given their tumultuous journeys back to Winterfell on the show so far. Williams also reflected on her own character’s challenging path forward after her adventures with the Faceless Men in Braavos: “So there’s this split with Arya between trying to be who she wants to be — getting back to the naïveté and innocence with her family — and unfinished business.”
If all of that sounds promising, great. But don’t get too excited. “There’s a lot of death this year,” Williams also said.
Thrones returns for its eighth and final season on April 14 on HBO.
