As one of TV’s biggest rising young stars, actress Maisie Williams from ‘Game of Thrones’ will make her first appearance in a two-part episode of ‘Doctor Who’ season nine.
The 18-year-old star will appear as Ashildr, a Viking girl who teams up with the Doctor and Clara to battle it out with the Mire, “the galaxy’s most deadly army.”
“I was approached for the role, I didn’t know much about it but knew they were introducing a new character to work closely with the Doctor,” she said. “I’d got through the second episode and absolutely loved it!”
After four years of portraying Arya Stark on ‘Game of Thrones,’ Williams is already at ease when it comes to working with hefty actors who take on the role of fierce warriors. As such, working on a Viking-themed episode actually made the young actress comfortable, despite co-star Jenna Coleman all decked out in an orange space-suit during such time.
“It just looks so great with all of us in our Viking outfits, Jenna in her space suit and the Doctor in his cool coat with his crazy sunglasses,” she said. “It makes for a really cool and interesting dynamic on screen.”
In a recent interview with the Radio Times, the Portal Award winner also shared her sentiments about the lack of acting opportunities for females.
“I didn’t realize when I was younger that women were written so badly,” she said, “but going further into this career I realized there are a lot of really bad characters, that it’s not common to come across females who aren’t just ‘the girlfriend’."
Meanwhile, Williams is still getting her fair share of acting opportunities as Guillermo del Toro has taken to social media and tweeted about his preference for the ‘Game of Thrones’ star to join ‘Pacific Rim 2,’ if the sequel pushes through.
"That girl is getting a Jaeger,” the director wrote after meeting the young actress.
In addition, Williams is set to take on the leading role in the upcoming young adult zombie film, ‘The Forest of Hands and Teeth’- Kate Maberly’s film adaptation based on the horror novel of the same title by author Carrie Ryan. She will also appear opposite Jason Sudeikis and Jessica Biel in the indie drama ‘The Devil and the Deep Blue Sea.’
As for Williams’ upcoming TV appearance, ‘Doctor Who: The Girl Who Died’ will air on Oct. 17 on BBC One.