Jon Snow was originally due to kill The Night King in the last season of Game of Thrones instead of Arya Stark, actor Maisie Williams has revealed.

Williams, who plays Arya in the hit HBO fantasy-drama series, ended up stabbing the villain with the Valyrian steel dagger in the third episode of the six-part finale last year.

But the 23-year-old has now let fans of the show into a secret about the original plan for the series’ conclusion.

When asked whether the show’s writers had initially planned for Jon Snow (Kit Harington) to kill The Night King, Williams told The Hollywood Reporter: "Yeah, they did. He (Harington) expected it to go that way, too.

"And he even said, ‘It was going to go that way. Someone told me in season three that I was going to kill The Night King.’ And then, he read the script, and it was Arya the whole time.

"Yeah, I think it would’ve been too obvious. I’m glad that it was Arya, honestly. I think I had the best storyline of the final season."

Arya’s brother Bran ends up becoming the leader of the Seven Kingdoms in the finale of the show, a move many fans criticised.

Actor Richard Brake, who played The Night King in the show, spoke back in July about how he hoped the White Walkers would win in the end.

"I wanted him to wipe everyone out, I was hoping for that. But you can’t always get what you want!," he told NME.

"But I love the fact that Arya killed him. That was to me one of the highlights of that season.

"And for the whole series, the way they developed her character from this little girl who watches her father get murdered, into this incredible assassin, who saves the world. To me that was the most genius thing of the whole series."