Video: Game of Thrones star Liam Cunningham is an absolute treasure. He’s the best we have as far as hints for season eight, revealing last month that filming was set to begin and that he’d already gotten the scripts (he’s since said HBO promised the scripts but haven’t actually delivered them yet). But he also isn’t one to shy away from the hard truths about Game of Thrones, including the fact that Arya probably isn’t the best role model.
In an interview with Rolling Stone, Cunningham was asked to address some fan theories about the final season of Game of Thrones. They ranged from whether Davos will survive (he doesn’t know), if Dany and Jon Snow will freak out after learning they’re related (he hopes so), and whether Samwell Tarly will age into George R.R. Martin (probably, given how long it will take to film the final season). However, when it came to addressing a fan theory that Sansa and Arya Stark will continue their campaign to rid Westeros of creeps, Cunningham interjected with a harsh truth about Arya.
“Let me throw something out here at you people. There’s a lot of young ladies I speak to. And when I say, ‘What do you think of the ladies?’ they go, ‘Arya, Maisie Williams’ character, she’s such a great role model,’” Cunningham said. “And I go, ‘OK, let me stop you there. She’s a serial killer.’”
It’s true that Arya Stark has become a patron saint of vengeance and awesomeness. Arya has become the most popular name for British babies to come out of the series so far, beating out Jon, Daenerys and Brienne, among others. But honestly, are we really that surprised? She’s kind of a badarse. She murdered an entire room of terrible men, giving her one of the highest solitary body counts of the series so far, and doesn’t take crap from anybody – if you don’t count that time she was falling for Littlefinger’s stupid games. That said, yeah, she is a serial killer.
I also found it funny that one of Cunningham’s favourite moments from last season was the weird aphrodisiac crabs scene, only because he figures Ser Davos misses being a pirate. Will he and Tyrion head out on the high seas once the series is over? He surely hopes so.