‘I think until last season [seven], Arya was always killing the baddies,’ says Maisie. ‘But then we saw her start to use those manipulative powers. It’s not until she had that whole dialogue with her sister Sansa in the last season that you realise what she’s become, that she’s being awful to someone who we love. For me, it was a really great moment as an actor to be able to play the character you love as a baddie. It felt so amazing, even though it’s an awful scene. But she rights her wrongs in the end. Also Sophie [Turner, who plays Sansa] is my best friend. Who gets to be on set with their best friend? Me! We lift each other up.’

As for the misogyny accusations, Maisie says: ‘For me, [Game of Thrones] is a medieval world in which women don’t have a lot of rights, and yet they still prevail. But I do think that as the seasons have gone on, it’s become more and more amazing for women. And this final season is going to be incredible. It just feels great, being on set with all these girls. They’re all ruling, you know, they’re all back on top – it’s pretty impressive.’

Though Maisie must feel pretty chuffed to still be in the show at all, considering how many central characters have been slain, inspiring countless fan pages and memes in the process. ‘Season one to eight, that’s what I wanted. I was in the first episode and I want to be in the last,’ she says.

With a connection that spans nearly a decade, commonalities between Maisie and her character Arya were always inevitable. ‘When I was younger, the similarities between us were quite black and white: I was a tomboy who liked to climb trees. But now, I’ve changed and I realise they’re more subtle. Like, we’re both hot-headed and I jump the gun.’ She takes a moment to reflect on this. ‘My kill count is nowhere near hers, though,’ she adds, with a glint in her eye.

Maisie grew up in Bristol, as one of four siblings with her single-parent mum, who worked as a university administrator. ‘She’s such a strong woman – an amazing mother who let us follow our dreams, so we went for every opportunity we got.’ Maisie has since paid her mum back all the money she spent on her, which felt ‘amazing’ to be able to do. ‘We don’t come from a place of much financial security.’ They are close, with ‘a very strong bond’, but as Maisie explains, a close family doesn’t mean you always admit how you’re really feeling – just as a big role on television doesn’t mean you’re actually happy.

In fact, playing Arya has at times been tough for Maisie, who uses an acting technique called emotional memory: ‘I find it very helpful, but it’s horrible. You have to draw on things from your own life. So sometimes, to get inside Arya’s head, I’m thinking about some awful things. It’s hard to just drop that and let it go.’

When she needs help turning Arya off, her boyfriend Ollie Jackson is there to help. ‘Everyone just wants to have someone they can hang out with, who is a friend and a boyfriend, and Ollie is that,’ she says. Together, they live in a flat in east London. Maisie insists she is a hermit, spending much time with her dog Sunny, an excitable shihtzu she rescued from a shelter as a puppy and describes as a ‘country-bumpkin dog’. She relies on her mum to dog-sit when work requires her to travel.

When conversation turns to what’s next, Maisie admits that, as she grows older, she’s at a crossroads. ‘I’m still young, but I could play a 21-year-old with their own family – getting offered that sort of part is very intriguing. More recently, I’ve been reading scripts of 16-year-old characters and thinking, these are complex girls I couldn’t have played when I was 16, but now I can really get into their psyche.’

Any minute, she’ll also launch the career social-networking app Daisie, which she created so young people can follow their professional dreams and not have to give up through lack of contacts in the industry. ‘It will be a place for young creatives to post portfolios or show reels of the work they’ve made so far, and find someone who wants to work with them,’ she says. Maisie Williams: a woman who kills with swords and kindness.

Maisie Makes her stage debut in October in I & You at The Hampstead Theatre. Pick up ELLE’s October issue, on newsstands now, for our Selena Gomez cover interview and so much more.