It turns out the final season of Game of Thrones confused Maisie Williams, too.
The actress, who played badass Arya Stark on all eight seasons of the epic HBO series, thought she understood her own character’s sexuality—until she didn’t.
“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,” Maisie told Teen Vogue. “I thought that Arya was queer, you know? So…yeah. That was a surprise.”
In the scene, Arya and Gendry [Joe Dempsie] are on the verge of near-certain death before the Battle of Winterfell, so she tells Gendry she wants to know the feeling of physical intimacy if it is indeed her last night alive.
Despite the circumstances, it rubbed many fans—and now, obviously, Maisie—the wrong way. At the time, however, Game of Thrones co-creator David Benioff defended the decision.
“Some characters want to make love for the first time because they’ve never done it before,” Benioff said. “There are other characters who are getting drunk and singing songs, and then there are characters who are just trying to find some human solace together.”