Spoilers ahead for the second episode of Game of Thrones Season 8.
The second episode of Game of Thrones Season 8 was light on action but heavy on the character development as everybody at Winterfell prepared for the upcoming attack by the White Walkers and army of the dead. The various characters chose different ways to spend what could be their last night alive: drinking with friends, eating with family, bestowing knighthoods and telling stories, and -- in the case of Arya Stark -- having sex for the first time.
The 18-year-old assassin decided she didn’t want to die without knowing what it’s like, and the result was a sex scene between Arya and her friend-turned-love interest Gendry. It was hardly the most explicit scene in the history of Game of Thrones, but some viewers were weirded out by seeing the character who started the series as a little girl stripping and climbing on top of a man, even though Gendry in-show isn't too much older than Arya.
Actress Maisie Williams, who is currently 22-years-old and was 20 at the time of filming, has the best response to those viewers:
Any viewers' discomfort could be practically nothing compared to the awkwardness between Maisie Williams and her family after her big sex scene aired, going by her tweet!
Between her mom, her stepdad, and her six siblings, those are a lot of family members who probably got to see a lot more of her doing something they might never have expected, especially of Williams didn't spill secrets to those off-set like Sophie Turner did. If they didn't know it was coming, then Arya's hookup with Gendry may have been quite a shock to her family.
Honestly, Arya's hookup with Gendry will probably be quite a shock to her on-screen family if they find out about it! Game of Thrones hasn't even made it clear if any of the other Starks (including Jon in this) know that Arya and Gendry know each other, let alone that they were travel buddies for a couple of seasons who now like to flirt in the Winterfell forge.
Personally, I'd love to see Jon's reaction, and not just because it would be payoff of the borderline ridiculousness that Gendry never mentioned Arya to Jon after meeting in Season 7. I suppose it all depends on who survives and who perishes in the upcoming Battle of Winterfell. Will the sex scene have been a goodbye between Arya and Gendry, even though they didn't know it at the time? Or the beginning of something?
If the beginning of something, I'm guessing there will be some viewers who would like that something to be as un-sexy as possible if they were uncomfortable with Arya and Gendry in Episode 2. One of the questions on a lot of minds -- other than the age of Maisie Williams, which a lot of people were googling because of this episode -- is whether Williams was asked to strip as much as she did.
Maisie Williams actually only appeared from the back and the side after Arya took off her shirt, and she revealed that showrunners David Benioff and Dan Weiss left the decision of how much skin to show up to her. It sounds like the scene was filmed in a way that could keep her as comfortable as possible. The next episode looks like it's not going to feature any kind of love scenes at all, with all the death and fighting and ice zombies that will be in the mix.
Find out if Maisie Williams' family will have to live in fear of more sex scenes or if Arya or Gendry will die in the big battle with the next episode of Game of Thrones, airing April 28 at 9 p.m. ET on HBO.
