This post contains spoilers from last night's Game of Thrones episode, "Eastwatch."
Gendry (Joe Dempsie) has only been back for half an episode, and I'm ready for so much more of the bastard son of King Robert Baratheon (Mark Addy). We've seen him meet Jon Snow (Kit Harington), kick some ass with a hammer, and next up, I'm ready for him to bring a little love into Arya Stark's (Maisie Williams) life. Come on, you were totally thinking it, too.
While Arya's mision in life goes far beyond being someone's wife, it would be amazing to see the young woman feel something other than animosity, anger, and nostalgia. Let's get some love in this girl's life, and let's have Gendry be the one to give it to her. Can you just imagine how intense their battle scenes would be? Him with the hammer and her with her little dagger — he'd underestimate her and then she'd kick his butt and he'd fall in love. She's grown up, y'all! But Dempsie himself doesn't quite agree, according to quotes in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter. Despite fans shipping Gendry and Arya, he thinks intimate scenes between them would be really uncomfortable.
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THR asked the 30-year-old actor if sees a reunion with Arya in the future, noting "some fans want to see them end up together." (*Raises hand*). Dempsie says he would absolutely love to act along Williams, but not be anything more than just a bro to her. "I would love it," he said of a reunion. "Just purely because I love hanging out with and working with Maisie. I said years ago when we were shooting the show is that she's one of the best actors I've worked with. She's a phenomenal talent. It's been a joy to watch not only Maisie but all the youngsters on the show grow up with the show."
Calling her a "youngster" is indicative of how he views the 20-year-old actress, especially when he says this: "I think it's implied in the books that there might be a romantic element to the relationship, and in the books I think the characters are significantly closer in age. I know from my personal experience, when we were filming the earlier seasons and people would ask about that and talk about that, I would feel slightly uncomfortable. I'm acting alongside a child here. I was a 25-year-old man.
He adds that he does think Gendry (and his abs of steel) may have had something to do with Arya's own sexual awakening, but he wants to leave it at that. "As a result of the difference in age, I think one of the roles Gendry played in Arya's story was as him being an older guy who sort of awakens certain feelings in Arya for the first time as she's becoming a young woman. There's that scene in season two where I'm forging a sword — fairly inexplicably without a shirt on — and I think the idea was to convey the idea of Arya experiencing feelings she's never felt before. Everyone's had that at some point. Whether that means Gendry has a place in Arya's heart or vice versa, I have no idea. I think there's almost a sibling element, too. At that point in the story, Gendry really reminded her of her brothers and of home. That was the comfort with him. But it could go a number of ways. It would just be nice if they met again, wouldn't it? It's a pairing you wouldn't want to mess with."
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Actually, it is a pairing I'd love to mess with.
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