Game of Thrones Star Maisie Williams to Guest Judge Rupaul’s Drag Race UK

Game of Thrones star Maisie Williams will act as a guest judge on BBC Three’s RuPaul’s Drag Race UK, BBC reports.

“What I love the most about drag is the story of the drag queen behind the facade,” Williams said. “I think that so much of drag comes from a place of real pain and seeing how that transforms into a character is so interesting to me. I love that about art and about drag.”

The 22-year-old Arya Stark star is the first announced celebrity guest host and will appear alongside RuPaul and Michelle Visage as the series seeks the first Drag Race UK superstar. The eight-part series will also see Graham Norton and Alan Carr appear as rotating judges.

Williams can relate to coming from a place of real pain: the star earlier opened up about her emotional struggles when appearing on the Happy Place podcast with Fearne Cotton.

“Last year, in my own personal life, I think I just went through a lot of real revelations where I was like I’m not very happy doing this and pretending everything was fine. And so, that wasn’t a public thing but after going through that, now I’ve sort of tried to be a lot more genuine and it just becomes a lot more relaxing after that I think,” Williams said. “You just drop it all and that’s when you can really have fun.”

Much like Drag Race, the key is being your true self.

“I still lay in bed at like eleven o’clock at night telling myself all the things I hate about myself. There’s still a journey, I think,” she said.

“But at least dropping the act and just being who you truly are, I think that’s definitely a first step. Not trying to be who you want me to be right now in this moment.”

Williams is open to returning as Arya Stark in a potential spinoff as long as she’s paired with her onscreen sister, Sansa Stark star Sophie Turner. Game of Thrones ended with Arya poised for a new adventure as she set sail towards where “all the maps stop.”