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Ed Sheeran’s been tearing up the charts lately. He’s got a #1 single worldwide with ‘Shape Of You’, and in the UK he’s currently holding 9 of the top 10 spots on Radio 1’s Official Chart. I’ve seen Ed Sheeran more on TV in the past few weeks than I’ve seen him over the past few years, combined. He’s everywhere, and he’s about to invade our lives even more with an upcoming guest appearance on HBO‘s Game of Thrones.
During an appearance at SXSW in Austin this week, Game of Thrones showrunners David Benioff and Dan Weiss announced that Ed Sheeran will appear on the show:
The producers said the “Shape of You” singer is a favorite of star Maisie Williams. “For years we were trying to get Ed Sheeran on the show to surprise Maisie and this year we finally did it,” Benioff said.
Past seasons of GoT have featured cameos by artists such as Gary Lightbody of Snow Patrol, Will Champion from Coldplay, Sigur Rós, and Mastodon.
“A lot of [music artists] say they would they would like to [be on the show], and then we tell them [shooting a scene] is so boring,” Weiss said. “‘You’re gonna hate this — you’re going to be sitting around three days for 12 hours a day.’” The producers noted the lead singer of Sigur Rós, Jónsi Birgisson, wanted to leave after his season 3 close-up during Joffrey’s wedding and didn’t realize he had to stick around as a background actor for several more days. “He was a super good sport about it,” Weiss added. via Entertainment Weekly
This seems like a waste of Ed Sheeran’s time. He’ll be forced to sit around and do nothing for days on set. This is a man who is one of the biggest stars in the world right now. He doesn’t sit still for more than two minutes at a time. I’m not sure this will end well.
As for the role he’ll be playing, it seems like the showrunners are getting Ed Sheeran on Game of Thrones more to surprise Arya Stark actress Maisie Williams than to have him in any meaningful role.
(h/t Entertainment Weekly)