HBO shut down rumours of an Arya Stark ‘west of Westeros’ spin-off
Let's get real for a second; Arya Stark is the Game of Thrones GOAT. No doubt about it. So why shouldn't we expect to be given more badass ninja assassin content from HBO, considering she's a fan fave?
In the series finale, which divided critics and fans alike, Arya told her family that she wouldn't be returning to Winterfell. Instead, she decides to go off the maps, to discover what's "west of Westeros".
"Nobody knows," she ponders. "That's where all the maps stop. That's where I'm going." Maisie Williams has played the role for a decade, but HBO bosses have since shut down our hopes for a spin-off.
The final shots of the baby Stark sis shows Arya boarding a ship, looking very much in charge. HBO programming president Casey Bloys dashed everyone's hopes in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, and we may cry.
When asked about everyone's favourite ninja getting her very own show, Bloys said;
"Nope, nope, nope. No. Part of it is, I do want this show- this Game of Thrones, Dan and David's show- to be its own thing. I don't want to take characters from this world that they did beautifully and put them off into another world with someone else creating it.
"I want to let it be the artistic piece they've got."
With three Game of Thrones prequel projects in the works at HBO, this isn't the last we'll be seeing of author George RR Martin's humongous literary world.
"That's one of reasons why I'm not trying to do the same show over," Bloys added.
"George has massive, massive world; there are so many ways in. That's why we're trying to do things that feel distinct- and to not try and re-do the same show. That's probably one of the reasons why, right now, a sequel or picking up any of the other characters doesn't make sense for us."
We see his point, but can't forgive him for depriving us of more iconic scenes surrounding the assassin.
From her butchering of Walder Frey, stabbing the Night King and banter with the Hound to her Many Faced God training and ruthless attitude; her character has become a cultural icon.
Maise Williams spoke to ET ahead of season eight, and opened up about saying goodbye to the show, where she began working at age 12.
"It was just really emotional. You can start to get yourself so down on everything, being like, 'This is the last time I'm gonna read scripts. This is the last time I'm going to be in this location.' I got to a point where I had to stop doing that, because then I was just going to have a nervous breakdown."
The 22-year-old actress explained that she found herself "putting off" her last scene, where she sails into a new world.
"I watched so many people wrap and cry. I had to like, stay out of that emotion because there was so much to do- like, some really difficult scenes to do. And then I wrapped and I was emotional," she recalled. "I really did feel numb."
"That's when my numbness came, and then it wasn't until like a week later that I was like- you know when you’re just doing something and then you drop a spoon? I was like , 'Ahhhhhhh!' like, overreacting entirely and I just felt like an insane person a little bit," she added.
Understandable, seeing as her entire adolescence was spent on a huge set playing a teenaged murderer seeking vengeance for her father's death and family's demise. SOB.
Let's watch some of Arya's most badass moments below to reminisce on her legendary nature, while trying not to cry:
Feature image: Instagram/@aryastark80
