Game of Thrones star Maisie Williams cast in Channel 4 drama about cyber bullying

Williams will play a teenager battling with her anonymous cyber-stalker

Daisy Wyatt
Friday 19 September 2014 09:48 BST
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Maisie Williams plays 'bad ass' Arya Stark in Game of Thrones
Maisie Williams plays 'bad ass' Arya Stark in Game of Thrones

Maisie Williams has been cast in a new Channel 4 drama about cyber bullying.

The Game of Thrones actress will play Casey Jacobs, a teenage girl battling with her anonymous cyber-stalker in the thriller.

Directed by Ben Chanan, Cyber Bully is based on dozens of real-life cases of young people who have been bullied online including those who have suffered advanced computer hacking.

Williams, who is best known for playing Arya Stark in HBO’s Game of Thrones, has yet to star in a British series.

Director Ben Chanan said, “The audience will be trapped with Casey for a full screen hour and we need an exceptional actress to play her.

The 17-year-old, who won the Radio 1 Teen Award for Best British Actor last year, is said to be excited about working on the project with Chanan.

Chanan, who previously directed Channel 4 docu-drama Blackout, said Williams was an “exceptional actress”.

He said: “I couldn’t imagine anyone else in the role. Maisie Williams is not only remarkably talented, she also has an immediately likeable, feisty screen presence which makes you root for her instinctively”.

Nick Mirsky, Channel 4 head of documentaries, said of the drama: “It is one of the most important purposes of Channel 4 to find new ways of engaging young audiences with the cyber world and the stories that play out on the internet.

"This film does exactly that in a way that is gripping, relevant and fiercely public service.”

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