Choosing act talent for a cast as large as the one inGame of Thronesis a daunting task . It ’s hard to imagine the show if the God Almighty take someone other thanPeter Dinklageto institute to life Tyrion Lannister . Or if they had stuck with Tamzin Merchant , who played Daenerys Targaryen in the original(unaired ) original , instead of cast Emilia Clarke in the use .
What made upchuck even more difficult is the show ’s length . Over the span of eight time of year , sure character are bound to have some major evolution . And the younger characters are go to grow up .
Co - creator and showrunner David Benioffdiscussedthose struggle during a SXSW Q&A in 2017 . " [ Arya and Sansa ] pop out so young , but we get laid if the show work , [ the characters ] were go to go to extremely sullen place , so it was a dodgy matter , range people and just hoping they would blossom into the woman that they ’ve become , " Benioff tell .
at long last , according to Benioff , it was Arya who ended up being the tough character to cast — which is fitting , as she is often the most hard - headed character on the show .
" I remember we probably looked at 300 girl in England and could not find the proper Arya , " Benioff said . “ We just could not swan her . We were baby-sit in this hotel pressure group in Morocco — the only billet we could get wireless — and looking at casting videos . ”
The role ended up going to now-21 - year - sometime Maisie Williams , who start playing Arya at the age of 12 .
“ There was a little thumbnail picture of Maisie Williams , ” Benioff remain . “ There was just something about that little tiny thumbnail expression that just seemed right . She looked about 7 . Like she was 12 , but last on 7 . So we clicked on the audition picture and waited about 40 minutes for it to download . When we saw that audition video she was just f***ing awesome . ”
In the years sinceGame of Thronesmade its original premiere , Williams has made an unerasable impression on both viewers and her co - stars . Sean Bean , who dally Arya ’s dad in season one , believesthat Ned Stark ’s young daughter may be the only type to make it out of the series conclusion alive . Williams herself hasdescribedArya ’s final scene as " beautiful . "
Game of Throneswill begin air its final time of year on HBO in April 2019 .
