WARNING: This Article May Contain Spoilers
I think I better get this out of the way here and now as I can’t write an article about Maisie Williams without mentioning Game of Thrones. Like another actress included in the ‘Before They Were Marvel-ous Heroes’ section of this blog, this is where Maisie’s career began – as the youngest daughter of the Stark brood, Arya. So, here’s my look at some of the films she starred in between this springboard and her role as Wolfsbane in New Mutants.
The Falling
I’m not certain if Maisie is meant to be the lead character from the outset but she definitely plays second string to Florence Pugh for the first 30 minutes. I guess she never really becomes the lead because the rest of the film is based around a group of 5 girls who are overcome by fainting spells, following the death of their friend, which are never actually explained! Truthfully, this film is darker than I expected but there’s a few things I don’t quite get. One, is Lydia in love with Abbie or is it just unfortunate writing? Two, does Lydia survive at the end? I’m not saying I got bored because it is a good film but I’m almost certain I must have missed things.
The Book of Love
Can I just start off by saying how appalling Maisie Williams’ American accent is? In the voice over it sounds like a thick, borderline racist, southern (so much so that it wouldn’t be out of place in 12 Years a Slave) but every now and then when she speaks to Henry, she sounds like she could be from Boston. Please Maisie, pick an accent and stick with it. Outside of this, I actually think this is her best role which probably sounds really odd considering that it is a little bit of an ancillary role.
iBoy
I’ll be honest, this is a good film, but I’m extremely disappointed by Maisie’s role in it. Like in The Falling, she plays a teenage school girl but there’s just something quite weak about her character in comparison. Lucy has been raped by boys she goes to school with when they attempt to rob her family’s flat so it could have gone one of two ways in my opinion. She could have been extremely weak or come over as new, stronger woman. However, I don’t think she does either – just trapses along the line in between.
Honorary Mentions
Now that the elephant in the room is out of the way, it’s important to note that Maisie also starred in another, what many may consider cult, series. She played a minor role towards the end of series 9 of Doctor Who as Ashildr who became a companion of Clara’s when she had her own TARDIS (I’ll be honest, it was so long ago I can’t remember why that happened). She also starred in Channel 4 TV film Cyberbully where truthfully, the twist ended up being a little obvious and made me feel that Maisie needs a cast around her as alone her acting was rather sub-par.