And not everyone loved it…
This week marked the long-awaited return of Game of Thrones, with the latest episode kicking off season seven.
'Dragonstone' was a particularly big episode for Arya Stark, with the youngest Stark daughter getting revenge for her family by murdering the Freys.
It got even more surprising however, when she ran into Ed Sheeran in the forest and shared some blackcurrant wine with him as he sang to her.
Yes, really. Ed Sheeran was in Game of Thrones.
Executive producers announced the news that Ed Sheeran would be making a cameo in the HBO series earlier this year, but it was unknown when the Grammy-award winning singer would appear.
‘For years, we tried to get Ed Sheeran on the show to surprise Maisie [Williams], and this year we finally did it’, the producers explained.
The scene saw Arya Stark, played by Maisie Williams, come across a group of Lannister soldiers around a campfire, one of which was the 26-year-old Shape of You singer in GOT dress.
Despite originally intending to kill the group, Arya ends up sitting with the men while Ed makes his Game of Thrones debut, singing for the group. After he sang Hands of Gold, a song featured in the Game of Thrones books, Ed had his one line where he explains that the song is ‘a new one’ – a funny dig at the lack of original songs in the HBO series.
Ed took to his Instagram following the airing of the episode to show his excitement. ‘Throwback to the time I was a Lannister’ he captioned a photo of himself onscreen, later uploading another with Maisie Williams.
While Ed seemed happy with his performance, the online reception was mixed, with some GOT fans saddened that the show had started featuring high profile figures.
‘Ed Sheeran making an appearance on Game of Thrones was the worst thing I’ve ever seen on the show in its history’, tweeted one user, while another posted ‘Nothing takes me out of a fantasy world like a random Ed Sheeran reference.’
Ed’s loyal fans however were thrilled, with some explaining how Sheeran’s cameo had actually made them tune into the show for the first time ever.
