Maisie Williams on Her First Date, First Audition, First Tattoo & More

The first time that I was surprised by Arya,

I guess, was probably in the final series

where she whips off her clothes and sleeps with Gendry.

I thought that Arya was queer, you know?

Hi, Teen Vogue. It's Maisie Williams.

And today I'm going to be sharing some of my firsts.

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First audition was for the hit sequel

Nanny McPhee 2, The Big Bang.

I told all my friends.

I said. I've auditioned for 'Nanny McPhee 2.'

And then they were like, So did you get the part?

And I was like, No. And that was heartbreaking.

The first time I was proud of myself

was when I got the part in Game of Thrones.

I remember feeling like everything

that I'd ever really dreamed of was coming true.

And then it was kind of overwhelming

'cause my life did change.

The first scene I filmed for Game of Thrones

was a scene with Kit Harrington

where John and Arya are up on, I don't know,

the balcony looking out,

and she's got some knitting needles.

Well, I don't remember a lot, actually.

I remember Sean Savage, our camera operator,

said, Well, the pilot was shot on film.

Do you remember that?

And I remember thinking, Absolutely not.

I was not looking at the cameras.

I don't know what I was doing.

The first time I realized that Game of Thrones

is gonna be big was when we came to LA

in the third series to do our premiere.

There was all of these fans,

and they were all saying our names.

Our real names, not our character names.

[paparazzi chattering]

I just remember thinking this is very different

to my life, my normal life.

Yeah, and that's when I thought,

Huh, maybe this show is kind of a big deal.

The first thing I did when Game of Thrones wrapped

was dye my hair pink.

Honestly, I don't really know why pink. Why not?

The first time I stepped onto the Tardis

was actually for a press shot.

So I was just in my regular clothes,

and then I took a picture on the Tardis.

Yeah, it was really surreal being on there

for the first time.

And then, you know, once I got back there fully dressed

and in the world of Doctor Who,

it was kind of exciting all over again.

We had a party at our house the other day.

It ended up being a dance party in the kitchen,

and it was really lovely.

But the song that got us in the door was Godspeed

by Frank Ocean.

It started out just everyone singing together

'cause it's such a beautiful song.

And then from that point onwards,

people just kept queuing other songs.

But it started with Godspeed.

So to turn it into a dance party, I'd start there again.

I bought myself a denim dress

from Louis Vuitton when I went

to Paris for one of the Game of Thrones events.

And I really haven't done that since.

It's kind of the first thing that I bought like that.

And then yeah, I was just too intimidated to wear it.

So I was like, I just need to not do this.

I just loan fancy clothes from brands

and then give them back 'cause,

yeah, it's a lot of pressure trying to figure out that.

My first favorite fashion moment that I shared with Reuben

was when we wore our blue, white,

and red matching Thom Browne looks to,

I think, it was the autumn/winter '19 show,

and we had matching red makeup.

I have very fond memories of that day.

Actually, Vogue followed us for 24 hours.

So check that video out.

Fashion week is crazy anyway.

And so then we had a film crew,

so it felt very nonstop, let's go, work, work.

It felt very fabulous and fashion week.

And it's nice that that will be documented forever.

I feel like one day it'll be quite a sweet thing

to see us when we were young and beautiful.

My mother, my mom is such a giving person.

She's so generous with her time and with her energy.

And so I think that I've learned from her.

My first tattoo was a tattoo on my ankle,

which I got in Japan when I was 18 or 19.

But it's quite funny because it says adventure.

And then I got a little bit older,

and I realized I'm really not a very adventurous person.

So I've always said if I were to go back to Japan,

then I would get a matching tattoo on the other ankle.

But instead, it would simply say home.

'Cause I think that better reflects me as a person.

So I remember wearing belly tops and low rise jeans

when I was six or seven,

and I would always get my mom to scrape my hair

with hair gel into a high ponytail with two little pieces

like I was a Spice Girl or Britney Spears or something.

I never thought it would come back around again.

And then, you know, sure enough,

I find myself in crop tops and low rise jeans

with slicked back hair.

My first celebrity crush was Danny from McFly.

I used to have a picture of McFly on my wall,

and I had a big, big, big, big, big crush on him.

[Crew] Do you still have a crush on him?

Not particularly, no.

But that's nothing to do with him. Maybe, I don't know.

They say as you got older, your tastes change.

My first date with Reuben, we went to the Tate Modern,

and then we walked along the South Bank.

And it was the night that he realized

that he needed glasses 'cause he couldn't see very well.

It was sweet.

The first time I realized that Sophie Turner

was gonna be my best friend

was the first moment that we met.

We did an audition together.

The two of us ended up getting the part,

and we had this journey together, which was really special.

I mean, I remember spending a lot of time at the beach

when I was a kid and seeing a lot of litter,

and I don't think that helps.

And then I think I learned about the microplastics

in the ocean and then also, you know, now in us.

And that's kind of very disturbing.

So just being born when I was born, you can't ignore it.

The first piece of advice that I got that really moved me.

Ugh, I feel like I'm gonna paraphrase it really badly,

but there was this quote that Reuben read

to me recently from a book.

What I took from it was that

if you feel like you're running out of time,

it's simply because you are spending your time

thinking about that.

I felt instantly the ability to kind of let go.

I had to stop the car 'cause I was crying so much.

I was like, Wait. My mind.

One of the first guests we had on Frank Film Club

was Florence Pugh for Midsommar.

She gave us some incredible stories about her costume

and about the rehearsal period.

Just insight into the relationship development

that she did with Jack for those characters.

And it was fantastic.

And it's so good to hear her chat about it.

Thank you for having me, Teen Vogue.

I will see you again next time.

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