Maisie Williams, who plays Arya Stark on the HBO hit show “Game Of Thrones”, knew a good opportunity when she saw it, and so did her mom. That’s why she was allowed to drop school at 14 to devote most of her time to the show, but the decision was a controversial one. Now, her mother is explaining why she let her daughter pursue her dreams rather than stay in school full time.
Williams was doing well in school–on track to make A’s and B’s–but is now being tutored instead of attending classes. For her mom, Hilary, the opportunity to travel the world was too good to pass up.
“Maisie was given a lot of opportunities that we didn’t feel we could turn down to concentrate on education,” she said. “I know a lot of people wouldn’t agree with that, but that’s what we decided to do. At the time, Maisie was filming, there were appearances and other things. She didn’t have the time to sit her exams. It wasn’t a snap decision. It came after a series of events that made us think: Are we really going to say, “No, Maisie, you need to be in school doing your exams” when somebody is offering the chance to travel the world and act in all these wonderful things?”
Hilary went on to explain that Maisie has plenty of time to finish schooling, but for now, she’s doing really well.
“Am I apprehensive about it? Not at all. We feel fine about the decision and Maisie has lots of other opportunities coming up. When I see her on the red carpet, she handles it really well and that’s a good set of skills to have in life. If she needs to go back and do GCSEs she can, and will also have the money to get tutors to help her to do it…I’m not saying you don’t need an education. My eldest son went to university and got his degree, and that worked for him. But you have to look at each case individually. You can always go back and get your education and these opportunities aren’t going to be there forever.”
Williams recently spoke about the direction her character will be going in this year, saying that with the loss of so many family members, Arya has changed, perhaps irrevocably.
“Arya is in a much darker place and I think we see a little glimpse of that in [Season 3,] Episode 10, but moving into the premiere of the new season, I feel like Arya… she doesn’t have a direction anymore,” she said. “She’s given up on trying to look for family. She’s given up on trying to control her future. I feel like this year [she] feels nothing.”
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