With Game of Thrones headed into the home stretch (of course there could still be spinoffs), cast members from the show are beginning to crank up their post-GoT careers by taking on big-screen work. Maisie Williams is one young actress from GoT who shouldn't have any problem finding new projects to sink herself into after the series ends. Williams' turn as Arya Stark has only grown more interesting and complex as the years have gone on, and her future seems very bright.
We may yet get to see lots of Maisie Williams herself on the big screen in the future, but in the meantime, the actress will be giving us a sampling of her voice acting talents. And she will be working with some big-time people too, including Oscar-winner Eddie Redmayne and Avengers star Tom Hiddleston.
Aardman Animations gives us the news via their official site that Williams will be voicing a character in Nick Park's upcoming movie Early Man. Williams' character is named Goona and she's described as "a gallant and indomitable rebel who befriends the film’s hero Dug (Eddie Redmayne), and helps steer him through the clash of the Stone Age and Bronze Age civilizations." Director Park had nothing but nice things to say about Williams' acting gifts:
“Maisie is a terrific actress, and she is of course no stranger to embodying a valiant heroine. I’m most excited to see her breathe life into Goona – I know she’ll be the perfect ally to Eddie’s Dug."
Williams spoke about her own admiration for stop motion guru Park:
“I’m a huge Aardman fan – having the chance to work with Nick Park is a dream come true, especially as I get to voice such a fantastic character as Goona. I can’t wait for audiences to meet her."
Early Man will be Park's first feature-length movie since 2005's Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit. Park won an Oscar for Best Animated Feature Film for that movie, and has won three Oscars for Best Animated Short Film. Early Man is set to hit theaters in 2018 and given Park's track-record, it will surely zoom right to the top of the list of favorites to be nominated for Best Animated Feature. Park's 2000 feature Chicken Run remains the highest-grossing stop motion animation film of all-time.
Watching Maisie Williams' post-GoT career unfold should be very interesting. Her first big project of 2017, the Netflix sci-fi movie iBoy, is set to release on January 27th. Later this year Williams will be appearing with Elle Fanning in the historical romance A Storm in the Stars, which concerns the love affair between Percy Shelly and Frankenstein author Mary Wollstonecraft. Williams also has the dramas The Forest of Hands and Teeth and Departures lined up. There are also rumors about her jumping into the X-Men universe. So she'll be busy.
Williams brings a lot of feistiness and pluck to her portrayal of Arya Stark, but some of these projects she has lined up should allow her to show a little range beyond those attributes. Williams seems to have the talent necessary to carve out a space for herself as a big-screen actress. Now she just needs to line up the right movies.
Source: Aardman Animations