Not all book readers, mind you. Just the ones who spoil things for non-book readers because “They’re not spoilers if the books have been out for years, LOLOL!” You know who you are.
What prompted Williams’ amazing, on-point rant is the fan reaction to the omission of a certain book character. (SPOILER: ) “That was a massive deal, but honestly, I really like it,” said Williams to TV Line:
”I’m so sick of going on the internet and seeing all the book readers being snobby, spoiling it for other people, then saying, ‘Well, it’s not a spoiler. The books have been out for years.’ Like, couldn’t you just stop being mad for a second and let other people enjoy the show? They feel they have a claim on the series because they read the books first, and I understand that, but they don’t need to be mean about it.”
+1 to this entire thing–as I’ve written before, Game of Thrones book readers need to get over our superiority complex, mmkay? People who haven’t read the books are not “worse” fans. They’re different fans. And, as much as I may complain about book-to-show changes with the best of them sometimes (the changes to Robb’s characterization, for example), the fact of the matter is the book and the show are two different entities, and they go by different rules. There’s a subtlety of characterization you can provide when you have thousands of pages of internal monologue to work with.
Going in for the kill, Williams continued:
“That’s why I liked moments like this, because book readers think they know what’s coming, then we change it and it’s really funny to watch their reactions. They’re always like, ‘That’s not what happened in the books, so the show’s really bad now.’ But really, they just feel insecure because they’re used to knowing what’s coming next.”
Snobby book readers, you better be glad winter is coming, because you’re going to need some ice for that burn!
She also threw some shade in the direction of “the cat I worked with”—no, not Ser Pounce!—saying it was “so badly behaved! It would never do anything it was supposed to do. I was like, ‘Get your game together, cat. You’re so bad.’” Excuse you, Maisie. I am fine with you giving a certain subset of the book-reading fandom a much-needed reality check, but you watch your tone when you talk about Ser Pounce. He’s going to rule Westeros one day, and then where will you be?
Williams also had some things to say about what season five holds for Arya—aside from how she wishes they’d “throw in more stuff that no one knows about” to “shock everyone,” book and non-book readers alike. (Agreed—I like being surprised. ICE BABIES?!) “I think she’s going to be fine,” she explains. “And I think, for the first time ever, she actually believes she’s going to be fine. It’s refreshing to me; this girl’s been pulled left and right by people who’ve been telling her what she’s going to do with her life, and she’s sick of it. She knows this world, she knows who to trust and she’s ready to go off on her own.”
In a separate interview, Williams said “She’s just looking out for herself now, I think… Arya’s one of those people who will forgive, but she will never forget. And we’ll see a lot more of the revenge that she takes on people who have hurt her in the coming season.” Of course. There are a lot of names left on that list.
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