Game of Thrones fans got quite the scare Monday night after actress Maisie Williams revealed a "major" spoiler for the final season of the hit HBO drama series. The actor's appearance onThe Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon was all fun and games, until Williams accidentally spoiled Arya's death during episode 2 of Season 8.
After Fallon asked for a "crumb" of information regarding the final season, Williams went on to talk about the emotional moments when shooting had concluded.
"It was really emotional, saying goodbye to all of the cast," the actress said to the talk show host. "Because when I found out that Arya died in the second episode–"
The 21-year-old quickly covered her mouth and asked for it to be "edited out." Looking clearly emotional and shaken up, Williams ran off-stage, leaving the audience dumbfounded and the late-night host agape. Before any tears were shed or tweets published, Williams ran back out announcing her slip of the tounge was all for the fun of April Fools' Day.
Though it was clearly a prank, some fans remained convinced Williams had in fact revealed some juicy details about the closely guarded storyline of the HBO fantasy epic's final seasson—whether she meant to or not.
"Plot twist: She told the truth and double fooled everyone," one person commented on the trending YouTube clip.
"Imagine if the writers went: '-Hahaha, we got them' '-Yeah, we did - ... so she dies in the third' '-Yup,'" another person joked.
"This still should be considered a spoiler in my opinion," one Twitter user said. "Because now we know Arya doesn't die in episode 1 or 2."
Fans on Reddit proposed their theories that Arya will die, along with her siblings Jon and Sansa, based on Williams' comments and a Season 8 teaser trailer released back in January.
In it, Jon, Sansa and Arya walk through crypts of Winterfell, and as they pass the statue of Catelyn Stark her voice can be heard saying, "All this horror that has come to my family."
The three reach the end of the crypt and are met by their own statues. While this could be a foreshadowing of future deaths, long past the conclusion of the series, fans pointed out both Arya and Sansa's statues showed them at their current age, while Jon's looked to be much older.
Despite the pranks and possible foreshadowing, Arya may be safe after all. Williams spoke with Cosmopolitan back in July 2015, revealing that Game of Thrones author George R. R. Martin was told by his wife to keep the beloved Arya alive or it may lead to a divorce.
"His wife did actually say that if he ever kills off Arya or Sansa, she's going to leave him," the actress said. "I'll just keep smiling, and say 'if you want to stay with your wife, you've got to keep me alive!'
Find out what the true conclusion is when Games Thrones Season 8 premieres on HBO on April 14 at 9 p.m. ET.
