Ed Sheeran made his Game of Thrones debut in the season seven premiere. The people of the internet had a lot of thoughts.
The singer, who isn’t the first musician to make a cameo on the series, appeared in a scene with Maisie Williams‘ Arya Stark, right after she did one of her most badass things (read all about that here). His appearance, which included singing, was done for Williams, a fan of Sheeran.
“For years, we tried to get Ed Sheeran on the show to surprise Maisie, and this year we finally did it,” co-creator David Benioff said at a SXSW panel in March.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZCxYgEennHU?wmode=transparent&w=600&h=315]
Other musician cameos have included Snow Patrol‘s Gary Lightbody, Will Champion from Coldplay, Sigur Rós, and Mastodon, but none of those struck quite the chord Sheeran’s appearance did.
“Did Ed Sheeran win a contest or something?” @anniemebane tweeted.
His character, was singing a song Arya didn’t recognize. When she said that, he turned to the camera and said, “It’s a new one.” Which was a little too much for some viewers.
I’ve believed in dragons, fire gods, & corpse armies but Ed Sheeran turning to camera to say “it’s a new one” was a bit much. #GameOfThrones
— mah ree nah (@marinarachael) July 17, 2017
I’m forced to listen to ed sheeran songs 67 times a day bc it’s the only shit on the radio & now my #Gameofthrones isn’t even a safe place.
— Stassi Schroeder (@stassi) July 17, 2017
“Audibly groaned when Ed Sheeran came on screen in #GameOfThrones because it was entirely unnecessary and not subtle in the slightest,” @Adam86Valentine tweeted.
The cameo didn’t turn everybody off. “Ed Sheeran already a top 5 GoT character,” @sMILESw_ said.
“I was not ready for this… #GameOfThones. This show never disappoints. @edsheeran #BestCameoEver,” @MDG676 said.
The song Sheeran sings in the series isn’t one of his own, it’s from George R.R. Martin‘s A Song of Fire and Ice book series. As Vanity Fair points out, it was used to blackmail Tyrion in the series.
Regardless of the reaction, seems like Sheeran enjoyed his cameo. He took to Instagram and posted several photos celebrating his arrival in Westeros. See one above. He also posted the below selfie.
This isn’t Sheeran’s first acting gig. He appeared in an episode of Undateable (as himself), recurred on FX’s The Bastard Executioner and played himself in Bridget Jones’ Baby.
When Sheeran’s cameo was announced at SXSW, star Sophie Turner made a joke that if came true could top the reactions to Sheeran’s arrival on the HBO fantasy series. “I’m still waiting on [Justin Bieber],” Turner said.
The next episode of Game of Thrones season seven airs Sunday, July 23 at 9 p.m. on HBO. The official episode description for “Stormborn” from HBO: “Daenerys (Emilia Clarke) receives an unexpected visitor. Jon (Kit Harington) faces a revolt. Tyrion (Peter Dinklage) plans the conquest of Westeros.” The episode was directed by Bryan Cogman and written by Mark Mylod.
