Game of Thrones season 7: Arya and Sansa Stark actors Maisie Williams and Sophie Turner discuss their emotional reunion in episode 4
Our first scene together was our reunion scene and we f**ked up so many times
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Your support makes all the difference.Game of Thrones’ fourth episode this season was arguably the best hour of television seen this year, featuring everything we Watchers love: dragons, battles and awkward reunions.
** Spoilers for ‘The Spoils of War’ ahead **
With Sansa and Bran now in Winterfell, there was little doubt that Arya Stark would soon be joining her siblings, bringing the three together for the first time since season one.
However, the meeting took on a very significant meaning behind-the-scenes, Arya and Sansa actors Maisie Williams and Sophie Turner being very close in real life.
“Our first scene together was our reunion scene and we f**ked up so many times,” Turner tells EW in a post-episode discussion.
“We couldn’t keep a straight face! Our relationship is so close, but it’s only that fun side, never the business side. I was nervous. It just terrified me. It’s like performing for your mom. When somebody is watching you don’t do it quite as well.”
Williams agrees, saying “It was the weirdest thing when we shot our first scene together. We were both embarrassed to do our thing in front of each other. It took a few hours for us to get serious and actually do it. Later it was fine on set and we could concentrate, but it was so hard to get into character with Sophie in front of me.”
Turner added: “But in the long run I think it benefits us because we can be free with each other in our acting. We’re not afraid to go there with each other because we feel so comfortable around each other.”
The the spoke about discovering they would share a scene; Williams was on a film shoot, scrolling through the new script on her phone. She immediately rang up Turner.
Such is their bond, that the pair have matching tattoos; the date of their first day shooting scenes together, Turner explaining: “That date always meant a lot to us and we always said we were gonna get it done.
“And we’d been filming for a week and we were having the best time ever and so we were like, ‘F— it, let’s just do it!’”
On the scene finally airing in episode four, the two actors just hope people won’t begin comparing their performances: “I don’t do scenes with women much on this show and I thought [the reaction to season 7] would be like back in season 1 where people constantly compared us,” Williams says.
“We’re two completely different girls playing two completely different characters and I thought, ‘Well, it’s going to be that all over again, with people comparing us as characters and as actors.’ So, in the beginning, I was nervous. But then my brain took over and I realised this is actually going to be really good fun.”
Meanwhile, Jaime Lannister actor Nikolaj Coster-Waldau has discussed his character's uncertain fate and the episode five trailer has been released, teasing another very important reunion.
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