Everyone, including co-stars Sophie Turner and Maisie Williams, thought Arya Stark would finally get her revenge on Cersei Lannister in Game of Thrones.
Fans were deeply disappointed with how things turned out at the end of Game of Thrones, and they are not alone – even Sophie Turner had the same sentiment, especially when it came to Arya Stark’s storyline. Portraying the Lady of Winterfell, Sansa Stark, Turner believes the season finale could have been more satisfying.
Credits: Sophie Turner in Game of Thrones / HBO
We know the major deaths that happened in the final season and Cersei Lannister’s was the most underwhelming. For years, fans have speculated how she would meet her end, and what happened in the show was clearly not on anyone’s list.
Sophie Turner was not satisfied with Cersei Lannister’s death
Lena Headey’s Cersei Lannister was a popular fan-favorite character despite her wicked role in Game of Thrones. Everything she and her family did to the Starks deserved a fitting punishment.
Towards the season finale, fans have anticipated Maisie Williams’ Arya Stark to finally exact her revenge on Cersei. Clearly, this did not happen as the queen and her brother were crushed by falling debris in the Red Keep. Speaking with TheWrap, 28-year-old Sophie Turner said, “I thought Arya would kill Cersei.” Yes, so did all of us.
Credits: Maisie Williams in Game of Thrones / HBO
For eight seasons, Cersei played the role of an antagonist who has a penchant for violence. By the end of the show, she was almost this empty character who had no more cause to fight, and perhaps this was why she was let go so easily instead of giving fans the Arya versus Cersei showdown that they always wanted.
Turner also expressed her wish to have seen her character reunite with Cersei, but she believed there were many other ways the story could have turned out. On a brighter note, she’s very happy with and proud of Sansa’s ending, which was returning to Winterfell and becoming the Queen in the North.
Arya, on the other hand, refused to embrace societal expectations and decided to leave Westeros to explore a life of adventure. It would have been a very fitting end to see her accomplish her original goal, but she made the choice to leave after The Hound made her realize that staying in King’s Landing to kill Cersei would only cause her own death.
Maisie Williams wished Arya Stark used her Faceless Man training to kill Cersei Lannister
Credits: Lena Headey and Nikolaj Coster-Waldau in Game of Thrones / HBO
Williams also had the same aspiration for her character in the season finale. She told Entertainment Weekly that she “wanted Arya to kill Cersei even if it means [Arya] dies too.” At one point, the actress said she thought while reading the script that Jamie – in the Red Keep scene with Cersei – would whip off his face to reveal Arya, and both of them would die.
Of course, this was what every fan would want to see. Arya spent a lot of time training to become a Faceless Man so she could take revenge on the people who wronged her family. This choice of using her learned skill to surprise Cersei before she dies would have been more fitting.
Game of Thrones is currently available to watch on HBO.
