‘Game of Thrones’: Why Arya Stark Could Be the Last One Standing, According to Theories

Game of Thrones Season 8 is unlikely to leave all of our favorite characters alive, but many fans hope that Arya Stark will be the last one standing.

We are just over a week away from the premiere of Game of Thrones’ final season. The shortened six-episode season has a lot of questions to answer and a lot of plot lines to wrap up. To many fans, the most important question is who will be left alive when the dust settles. Arya Stark, played by Maisie Williams, may be the best candidate.

Arya has come a lot way in her time on the show. We have watched her grow from a rebellious girl to a shape-shifting assassin right before our eyes, and it now seems like there is nothing she cannot do. Arya has never sought the Iron Throne. Instead, she is driven by justice and loyalty. This could be the thing that keeps her alive in the wars to come, especially as everyone around her vyes for dominance.

Williams has given fans just a few hints about Arya’s fate in the upcoming season. In a recent interview with The Guardian, she described her final scene on the show as “beautiful.”

“I ended on the perfect scene. I was alone — shocker!” she said. “Arya’s always bloody alone. But I was alone and I had watched a lot of other people wrap. I knew the drill, I had seen the tears and heard the speeches.”

The mere fact that Williams wrapped on the season long after some of her co-stars gave a lot of fans hope for Arya. Of course, there is no guarantee that the season filmed in order, and Arya could still have faced a bloody battle in the end. In fact, Williams’ farewell post to the show on Instagram seemed to imply just that.

“Goodbye Belfast. Goodbye Arya. Goodbye Game of Thrones. What a joy I’ve had. Here’s to the adventures to come,” Williams wrote beneath a photo of white sneakers stained with blood.

Williams gave fans even more hope for her beloved character here with a few leading hashtags, including: “last woman standing” and “barely.” Fans are hopeful that she was spelling things out plainly here, letting them know that Arya will be the last one standing when the war is over.

Of course, we cannot take this as an ironclad spoiler. Williams could have meant that she was the last woman standing on set, or she could simply have been using a figure of speech. She and the rest of the cast are subject to stringent secrecy policies, so the idea of Williams leaking her characters fate seems highly unlikely.

Fans will just have to tune in to find out. Game of Thrones Season 8 premieres on Sunday, April 14 at 9 p.m. ET on HBO.