All good things must come to an end, but in Westeros, what is dead may never die. And Maisie Williams, who plays Arya Stark in Game of Thrones, will forever be a part of one of television’s most prestigious — and heavily criticised — shows, even as the veteran actress bids farewell to the snows of Winterfell. To ease the blues, she may have also dropped a spoiler about Arya’s fate, and our brains are in overdrive trying to decipher this massive clue: #lastwomanstanding.
Williams shared a photo on her Instagram, lamenting the end of Arya’s journey. Sporting a pair of Cardi B-approved bloody shoes (Nike Air Force Ones, to be precise — who knew Arya was a hypebeast?), she indicated that she had wrapped up filming her portions of Game of Thrones’ finale season. “Goodbye belfast,” wrote Williams. “Goodbye arya. goodbye game of thrones. what a joy i’ve had. here’s to the adventures to come,” along with the hashtags #lastwomanstanding and #barely. What in the name of the Many-Faced God could that mean?
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Well, for starters, maybe it means something painfully obvious: every woman left alive on the show dies, and Arya Stark survives. This means that Asha Greyjoy, Brienne of Tarth, Daenerys Targaryen and her many titles, Sansa Stark, and current Iron Throne seat warmer Cersei Lannister may all meet their demise. We’d start weeping at this notion, but Game of Thrones has already stolen away other beloved characters — nothing can shock us anymore.
Assuming Arya survives till the very end, that could set up her character to have her own spin-off show. Williams likely won’t come back as Arya, but given that HBO is pondering several spin-off shows (with one prequel series in likely development) the cable giant would delight fans by expanding Arya’s world.
In our dreams, #lastwomanstanding refers to an epic duel or battle that Arya will win, because she is Arya, and can hold her own against Westeros’ most badass warrior, Brienne of Tarth. We know that there are still names left on her kill list, and Arya would be way too remiss to let them live — especially now that she has face disguises. Perhaps she’ll face off against a certain old AF blood witch? Mask on, mask off, Arya will always chase a hit job.