Game of Thrones director defends Ed Sheeran cameo

The episode's director has addressed the criticism...

Published 19th Jul 2017
Last updated 19th Jul 2017

A Game of Thrones director has defended Ed Sheeran’s cameo in the seventh series’ premiere episode.

Ed appeared in a scene with Maisie William’s character Arya Stark, which aired on Monday (17th July) on Sky Atlantic. In the scene, Ed is seen sitting with a group of soldiers playing on guitar and singing. Arya rides past the group on a horse and remarks “It’s a pretty song, I’ve never heard it before” to which Ed replies “It’s a new one”.

Fans of the show were quick to criticise Ed’s appearance on the fantasy HBO series. Now the director of the episode ‘Dragonstone’, Jeremy Podeswa has addressed the criticism of Ed’s cameo. Podeswa told Newsweek: “I think Ed did a lovely job, he’s a lovely actor and a lovely person.”

He added: “He was appropriate for the part because he needed to sing. If people didn’t know who Ed was, they wouldn’t have thought about it twice. The hoo-ha seems to be from things that are outside of the world of the show. In the world of the show he did a lovely job, and he looks like he belongs in that world.”

Addressing the backlash to the episode, Podeswa said “I was quite surprised about the reaction actually because I know he's very well known and a successful singer but you’re in the bubble of the show—the cast are well known too, everybody is really well known...none of them can walk down the street without being followed. You don't think about that very much in this context.”

Podeswa explained that Ed was a pleasure to work with, “He comes with no entourage. There's nothing connected with him that's in the least bit self-aware or self-conscious.”