If there are a pair of sisters who have been through more than Game of Thrones [1]' Stark sisters, I don't want to meet them. The duo began the series as young squabbling siblings [2] who take a journey south, only to watch their family be torn apart over seven seasons. Now, as the eighth and final season [3] comes closer, we're faced with two very different young women fighting for the safety [4] of their family and their home. Honestly, we're a little choked up just thinking about it.

So are the actresses who play the Stark sisters, Sophie Turner (Lady of Winterfell herself, Sansa Stark) and Maisie Williams (Arya Stark, formerly No One). As Turner reveals in an interview with Rolling Stone [5], she cried after filming her last scene, "because I cry at everything." As for Williams, she took a long shower and grabbed a beer with the crew as they called a wrap on the series. "I didn't go out that night because I didn't want to say goodbye to everyone again," she admitted. "You can't be like 'Goodbye forever' to this show. It's like a divorce. It takes a very long time."

Turner and Williams have been part of GOT since they were 13 and 12 years old (now 23 and 21), respectively, and are finally closing a chapter to a decade-long run in Westeros. But before they move on to battling X-Men [6] and other exciting new roles [7], we have one more season with the Stark girls. Keep reading to learn exactly how Williams gets dark and twisty for everyone's favourite murderer and Turner's take on Sansa's rise to power [8].

Related:

14 Major Questions Game of Thrones Needs to Answer in Season 8 [9]

• Williams on meeting Turner for the first time: "I thought Sophie was the coolest thing I'd ever seen. I get why they do chemistry reads, because when it's right, it's so right. Like, we're best friends. And they could see that all those years ago, and it must have been real magic watching these two girls have the best time together."
• Turner on working with Williams on Game of Thrones: "We're a nightmare to work with. If you're working with your best friend, you will never get any work done, ever. Anytime we tried to be serious about anything, it's just the hardest thing in the world. I think they really regretted putting us in scenes together. It was difficult."

• Turner on Young Sansa: "She sees the world through rose-tinted glasses at the very beginning. She is completely oblivious to who the royal family are. It's like any Justin Bieber fan — they don't realise Justin has his darkness about him. David and Dan always told me, 'Look at Joffrey as if he's Justin Bieber and imagine that life.'"
• On Sansa's evolution through the series: "In the beginning, I was jealous of Maisie because she got to do all these sword fights and be the badass. I was like, 'I know my character is very powerful.' Sansa adapts better than Arya. If Arya was in Sansa's situation at the beginning, she would have had her head cut off. And if Sansa had been in Arya's position, Sansa would have been bullied to death. . . . It was really frustrating how slow it was, but it just makes it all the more satisfying. I'm happy she's only just coming into her power now."

• Williams on how she channels Arya's grief and capacity for violence: "I drew on a lot of very real emotions that I felt in my life. People would always say when I was 12, 'How could you ever — what did you draw on?' They just don't know anything about my past. It's such a freeing thing being able to explore these emotions in a really safe environment. I think it was really helpful for me when I was 12, 13, to just, like, go crazy, and then you go home and you're like, 'Phew, what a good day.'"
• On Arya's bloodiest moments: "You can feel the adrenaline. It feels incredible because it's all pretend, it doesn't matter. But when else do you get to do that? There was this shot we did at the end of season three when I'm stabbing the guy in the neck. They got me a sandbag and a fake knife, and they had blood going, and they were just like, 'Stab! Just go for it.' My God! It was good."

• Williams on growing up while playing Arya Stark: "I was becoming a woman and then having to wear this thing that's kind of like what the queen does — I think the queen has to have a bra that pushes her tits under her armpits. And it got worse, 'cause it kept growing, and they put this little fat belly on me to make it even out. I was, like, 15: 'I just wanna be a girl and have a boyfriend!' That was when it sucked. The first time they gave me a bra in my trailer, I was like, 'Yes! I'm a woman!'"
• Turner on Williams's difficulty playing Arya: "She [was] going through all these changes, and yet she has to still look like a child and cut her hair short and look completely different to how she's feeling inside. I think she really envied me because I got to wear the dresses and have nice makeup and nice hair. And I wanted the trousers and the boyish clothes!"

• Williams on auditioning for the role of Arya: "I remember looking around the room at all of these really pretty girls and feeling really scruffy. The audition I'd gone to before, in my screen test they were like, 'We're gonna change your top.' I remember being so humiliated and knowing there was something about me that wasn't right. Before that, I'd auditioned for ballet schools and stuff, with my grubby tights and crooked teeth, and all these stage kids were like they were in an advert. Even that young, I could feel that. But for Arya, it's perfect. That was exactly what they wanted. F*ck you and your perfect smile!"
• On the end of Game of Thrones: "What's hit me the most about the show ending isn't the show ending. It's like, I'm free. I can do anything now. It's like a moment where you can just really enjoy everything that you've worked hard for. These last six months, I've really just done that."

• Turner on Sansa's hand in Ramsay Bolton's death: "[Sansa's involvement] made it a really great storyline. Killing him with the dogs, that was the most satisfying scene. It made me so emotional because I've been waiting so long for her to stand up to the people who have done her wrong."
• On the ending of Game of Thrones: "I feel very satisfied with the ending of the entire show. Every story arc came to a really good close."

• Williams on filming her last scene: "I went back into my trailer after we wrapped. I took a shower, 'cause I was dirty. Arya is always dirty. I didn't go out that night because I didn't want to say goodbye to everyone again. You can't be like 'Goodbye forever' to this show. You can't put that weight on any day. It's like a divorce. It takes a very long time."
• Turner on the biggest lesson she's learned from being on the show: "This whole show, the only reason [Sansa] has willed herself to survive is for her family. The power of family and unity is so strong that it can keep people alive. That's the biggest thing I've taken away from the show: Family is everything. I think Papa Stark would be very proud of us."