Game of Thrones 星, 星级 Maisie Williams speaks: The ultimate Arya interview 

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, Maisie Williams is all tomboy—short dirty hair, a favorite sword, and a thirst for vengeance. In real life, the now 18-year-old admits she sometimes relishes being girly. Relaxing at the St. Regis hotel in San Francisco before the drama’s U.S. premiere, she talks about getting glammed up for the spotlight. “It’s fun for the other cast members to come downstairs at the hotel, and everyone’s like, ‘We all look so good!’” she says. “Everyone feels great, we’ve all got dresses on, and no one’s wearing armor.”

Still, she says those events can be intimidating: “There’s loads of people photographing you and asking questions. It gets a bit intense.”

Intense might be an understatement when it comes to all the attention that’s been heaped on Williams since the homeschooled actress from Bristol, England, landed the role of Arya on HBO’s dark fantasy drama at age 12. She’s grown up onscreen before a global audience, and after scoring three SAG nominations for best ensemble and almost a million Twitter followers, Williams is working on her career outside of Westeros: She recently wrapped 

, where she plays a homeless teen trying to sail away to an island, and producers are chasing Williams for a movie version of the hit zombie videogame 

But the more famous Williams becomes, the more she strives to remain a person she respects. “I don’t want to be an asshole,” she repeatedly emphisizes.

Here, the decidedly un-jerky Williams takes a few questions about fame, answers a lot of questions about 

, and—most important—reveals Monopoly piece kicks the most butt (Note: 

Portions of this interview have appeared previously online or in print, but this is the first time the entire interview has been published

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: Five years, five seasons. How has being Arya changed your life?

MAISIE WILLIAMS: This last year, the show’s become massive, overwhelming. It’s made me think about my future. I want to [act] the rest of my life, but I don’t want paparazzi everywhere. I don’t want to take a private jet everywhere. People don’t just do that because they’ve got the money, but because they’re sitting in airport lounges and literally doing photo after photo. And I don’t want to be an asshole to anyone. If I watched somebody on television every week and I met them and they were an asshole to me, it would break my heart. But it is an overwhelming life. Since the beginning, people said, “Your life is gonna change,” but I never believed it until this year.

So unlike Jack Gleeson—who played King Joffrey—you want to stick with acting after 

I want to stick with performing—acting, singing, dancing. It’s the only thing I’ve ever wanted to do. It’s the only thing I’m good at. But I don’t want to f— it up. And I can totally see how it happens. I’m lucky to have a great group of people around me. I look at Lena Headey; I admire her lifestyle. She goes to the awards shows and does the famous things, but still lives a very normal life. I also want to live anonymously, and that’s the one thing I miss: being anonymous.

I look up to people who are not affected by this industry. Like, I met Keira Knightley at the SAG Awards, and she was just so normal and so nice. When they’re just not affected, you just think, “Teach me!” This industry is crazy. It’s completely mental. Someone makes an itinerary, then [a] car picks you up and takes you over here, and then you get [a] plane, and it’s just easy to rely on other people and become a bit like, “How do I make coffee?” You hear these horror stories. Then you meet somebody who’s like, “Nope.” That’s the sort of person I look up to. 

It gives you assurance that there is a way for you to stay who you are. 

Yeah. Because before I got into this industry I thought famous people were mean. Then you come into the industry and you realize that’s not what people are like at all. That’s just a small minority, and they’re just the people who get the headlines. No one reads about how Keira Knightley did a really nice interview. That’s not a headline.

What does it feel like when you see a huge poster with Arya on it?

You get a little sensitive. It’s like a little buzz inside you, and you’re like, “You did that, and you’re just as much a part of this as the other characters.” When I was younger, I felt like I was watching it all happen, and now I really feel like a part of it.

Arya would absolutely hate walking a red carpet. How do you feel about it?

Rule number one is to not read what people think about you on the Internet, because it makes you sad. But sometimes I love it. I like shocking people. People are like, “That’s not an appropriate thing for a 13-year-old to be wearing!” I’m like, “Guys, I’m nearly 18!” But I just think, “One day you’re going to realize my age and you’re going to feel silly.”

“If you could play any other character besides Arya who would it be?” It’s like, season five and we’re still answering this question. I don’t know who I want to play because I get to play Arya and I think she’s really cool. But if I say that then people are like, “Oh, she’s arrogant.” I’m not, I just think she’s really cool. The other one is, “Would do you want to end up on the Iron Throne?” I’m like, “Hard to know. Let’s watch and see together shall we?”

You’re huge on social media, but you’ve also had troll trouble.

If you get misinterpreted, you can’t really win, and I’ve had to accept that over the last couple years. I always have to sit back and remember what I meant to say and who I am, and be happy with that and always be true to that. But it’s hard. It’s like a minefield in this industry, and it’s hard to know what to say and how to word things. There isn’t a guide to doing it right. No one really knows how people are going to react to stuff. I just keep doing what I do, and then I talk to my mom about everything and she always calms me down about stuff.   

Is there something in particular that someone’s written about you that bothered you? 

Not recently. It’s just that when you say something, and then it gets misinterpreted, and you just want it to go away, and then another person sees it, and then it just spirals and spirals. It kind of gives you a thick skin, and that helps because then I can go into see any casting director and be like, “I’ve got this.” I try and take positives from it and learn from it. And I think that’s like with every 17 year old, but it’s just a bit different because [my tweets are] blasted to nearly a million people. 

What kind of parts is Hollywood offering you now?

High school movies, and that’s a bit boring, really. I like to go for characters that I can become rather than be, like, a normal girl. The cool thing about this job is that you get to pretend to be other people. So it’s good to pretend to be cool people. Last year I did a high school movie, but it’s called 

 and it’s about a mass fainting epidemic in an all-girls school in 1969. I still want to hang out with my peers and talk about having crushes on boys, but in a more interesting way than “the quarterback gets the geeky girl,” you know?

Nothing is set in stone. But if they wait around too much longer I’m going to be too old. So we’ll see. 

There’s this little British series rumbling about that would probably start after I finish 

. I’ve only read the first episode. It will basically be a superhero character, but she’s female, and it’s in the same sort of vein as 

 where she’s not actually super—like she doesn’t actually have powers—but kind of just takes it upon herself and is kind of a little mute, doesn’t speak very much. She’s not in lycra, she wears jeans and a T-shirt—which is the kind of superhero I would want to be if I were a superhero. 

No. I’m just having too much fun doing this. I’m enjoying traveling the world, and I can do that during work rather than going traveling. 

A typical Maisie Williams day: What’s that like?

I’m quite social. I go to work and then speak to everyone there. Then when I’m home I love meeting up with friends. I call my mom at lunchtime.

I love playing Monopoly on my phone. I play as the boot because I see that as the best piece. Then I put the other player as a thimble, or something really stupid like the wheelbarrow. This is just to make me feel better if they do win. I’m like, “Yeah, but you’re still a wheelbarrow.” I’m so immature. 

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