Maisie Williams has claimed there was an alternate ending to Game of Thrones where Jon Snow (Kit Harington) killed The Night King…according to Kit Harington.
Loyal viewers of HBO’s high-fantasy epic will remember, of course, that in the divisive final season, Arya Stark (Williams) shocked basically everyone when she killed The Night King during the Battle of Winterfell, effectively ending the White Walkers’ threat to Westeros and clearing the deck for Daenerys Targaryen’s (Emilia Clarke) conquering of King’s Landing.
This effectively named Arya, in a neat plot twist, as The Prince That Was Promised, a title that many viewers (and readers of George RR Martin’s A Song Of Ice and Fire novels) had assumed would go to Jon Snow.
But it seems that no-one was more shocked by the turn of events of season eight that Mr Jon Snow himself, Kit Harington.
Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter, actress Maisie revealed that the Spooks actor had actually been privy to some confidential information early in the shooting of Thrones…that in an alternative ending, Jon would indeed have been the one to kill the Night King.
Asked about the twist (and the bait and switch of Arya and Jon), Maisie said: ‘Yeah, they did [expect Jon to kill The Night King.]
‘[Harington] expected it to go that way, too, and he even said, “It was going to go that way. Someone told me in season three that I was going to kill The Night King.”’
Say what?!
‘Then, he read the script, and it was Arya the whole time,’ she laughed.
Asked why she thought showrunners David Benioff and DB Weiss made the switch, Maisie elaborted: ‘Yeah, I think it would’ve been too obvious. I’m glad that it was Arya, honestly. I think I had the best storyline of the final season.’
We’ll raise you a Sansa Stark on that, hun, but otherwise we totally agree, and not many of the characters of Thrones could say that after season eight! (No tea no shade, OK, maybe a bit).
And if you’re still (still!) waiting for author George RR Martin to hurry up and finish his epic fantasy series we’ve got good news for you – he’s cracking on with finishing The Winds of Winter during lockdown.
Of course, after he does that, he does also have to start and then finish the final book A Dream of Spring but…one thing at a time!
Game of Thrones is available to stream via NOW TV.
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