BBC Worldwide LimitedWorlds are colliding this Saturday on Doctor Who when Maisie Williams guest stars. The Game of Thrones actress will appear alongside Peter Capaldi and Jenna Coleman in "The Girl Who Died," the first part of a two-part story that sees the Doctor and Clara training a band of Vikings to defend themselves against a deadly army. Williams will play Viking girl Ashildre.
"I didn't know much about it, but knew they were introducing a new character to work closely with the Doctor," Williams said about the role, by way of BBC America. "I'd got through the second episode and absolutely loved it! I was going to do a tape but ran out of time because I was in America shooting another film, so my agent worked really hard and sent over lots of clips and videos—they liked them and gave me the role."
"The Girl Who Died" was written by Being Human's Jamie Mathieson with executive producer Steven Moffat and directed by Ed Bazalgette.
"When Doctor Who came back on television a lot of my male friends were really excited. I didn't know much about it, but I watched a couple of seasons with David Tennant as the Doctor," Williams told BBC America. "And since I've been here, I've been questioning Jenna—'Why are you in a space suit?, what's going on here?, have we met this person before?, does this link back to a previous episode?'—anything I can find out. It has been really exciting working on it and I'm so glad to be a part of it now."
Mathieson teased there's more than a Viking war at play in the episode.
"There is another big mystery to solve in the form of Maisie Williams, who plays a Viking that the Doctor seems to recognize," he said. "But from where? Or is it when?"
Doctor Who airs Saturdays at 9 p.m. on BBC America.