Maisie Williams on leaving Game of Thrones: “It’s been my safety blanket”

Like many of her fellow castmates, Maisie Williams has begun to accept the reality that Game of Thrones is coming to an end. That realization has left the 20-year-old actress with mixed feelings, as she related during a recent appearance on ITV’s Lorraine. “It’s nerve-racking because it’s been my safety blanket,” she said. The world’s most popular show is one heck of a security blanket.

It’s a far cry from her beginnings on the show, when the 12-year-old Williams juggled school and acting, and eventually had to get homeschooled. “When I was younger, I had a job and I was working, but I was very young. But as I got older, my friends started working, so I didn’t see [my job] as any different to them.” Except we’re guessing your friends that worked at Target weren’t on magazines covers.

"People always said to me your life is going to change and I remember thinking, “I don’t know if I really want it to,” but there’s ways to go about it in this industry so it doesn’t change."

To that end, Williams has kept her private life pretty private, including her relationship with boyfriend Ollie Jackson, all so she can “live as normal a life as possible.”

TORONTO, ON – SEPTEMBER 09: Maisie Williams attends the ‘Mary Shelley’ premiere during the 2017 Toronto International Film Festival at Roy Thomson Hall on September 9, 2017 in Toronto, Canada. (Photo by Rich Fury/Getty Images)

As Thrones begins to wind down, Williams is looking forward to the future, whatever it holds. “It’s been my entire career, but it’s exciting to know that I can really shake my career and do what I want to do.”

Williams is poised for success. Aside from a starring role in the X-Men spinoff The New Mutants, she also lent her voice to the animated comedy Early Man, which will be out in theaters later this month. She plays a Bronze Age vendor named Goona.

Her costars include Hollywood heavyweights Tom Hiddleston and Eddie Redmayne, the latter of whom Williams fondly recalled working with:

"We were in the booth together and he was so free and energetic, it gave me confidence. It was nice to work with him. He brought me out of my shell a little bit."

“I was thrilled to be a part of it,” she said of Early Man. “I think my nephew might start thinking I’m cool now! That’s all I want from him. I’ll be like, ‘That’s me!’ but he probably won’t believe me!”

Certainly don’t show him your work on Game of Thrones; the kid will spend the rest of his life in therapy.

Next: Liam Cunningham (Davos Seaworth) discusses his hopes for Game of Thrones season 8

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h/t The Daily Mail