‘The first half of my 20s was hell’: Maisie Williams on her tough childhood and why she’s been having more fun since Game of Thrones — SkimNews
Get the Culture newsletter
Daily culture — film, music, books, the trends and ideas worth your attention. Free.
- Maisie Williams is set to play Antonia — the youngest daughter of Sandra Bullock's Sally Owens — in Practical Magic 2, directed by Susanne Bier alongside Nicole Kidman and Joey King
- Williams once paid an Etsy witch £16.50 to manifest a film role, an experiment she says ended when 'it didn't work,' though she now joins a franchise built on witchcraft
- Hannah Murray, Williams's Game of Thrones co-star, released memoir The Make-Believe about a wellness cult that triggered a psychotic episode and a later bipolar disorder diagnosis
- Williams told the Diary of a CEO podcast in 2022 that she had a traumatic relationship with her father, struggled with sleep, and at age 8 was not eating breakfast — issues she says she hadn't shared with many friends or boyfriends
- Williams claims not to know about a reported Arya Stark spin-off in development at HBO, saying the character 'would have to be developed in some way' before she'd return
- Williams, now 29, has launched her own production company and co-hosts the Frank Film Club podcast after roles in Marvel's The New Mutants, Danny Boyle's Pistol, and Apple TV's The New Look
Why it matters: Williams, who became famous at 12 as Arya Stark, is publicly reframing a childhood marked by her father's absence, sleep struggles, and hunger — pain she hid from friends and partners — at a moment when she's stepping into grown-up studio work alongside Bullock and Kidman. The profile signals a deliberate pivot from child-star identity toward producing and ensemble roles.
Ask SkimNews
