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Maisie Williams, HBO UK Comment On Controversial Game Of Thrones Sex Scene

April 22, 2019 | Posted by Jordan Huie
Game of Thrones Arya Image Credit: HBO

Episode 2 of Season 8 of Game Of Thrones, ‘A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms’, dropped yesterday (check out our full review of the episode) and with it, a bit of controversy. While sex scenes and nudity are nothing new for the series, the scene featuring Arya Stark, played by Maisie Williams, having sex with Joe Dempsie’s Gendry caused a stir among fans due to confusion over the age of the character and the actress herself.

Maisie was 14 years old when she first started playing the character back in 2011, and Arya herself was only 11. As the passage of time within the series is unclear, it’s not certain how old she’s supposed to be at the time of the episode. The actress herself, of course, is 22.

Maisie Williams spoke with Entertainment Weekly about her learning of the scene.

“At first, I thought it was a prank,” Williams claimed. “I was like, ‘Yo, good one.’ And [the showrunners were] like, ‘No, we haven’t done that this year.’ Oh f—k!”

Showrunners David Benioff and Dan Weiss do have a history of such pranks, including sending Kit Harrison a scene in Season 1 where Jon Snow became horribly disfigured. This time however, was obviously quite legit.

In an apparent response to the concerns many raised, HBO UK sent out this tweet:

This seems to strongly suggest that Arya is 18 and therefore legal.