Game of Thrones season 7 episode 1 director defends Ed Sheeran's controversial cameo

'If people didn’t know who Ed was, they wouldn’t have thought about it twice'

Midway through the Game of Thrones’ seventh season premiere, a certain Glastonbury headliner appeared on screen, to much controversy: Ed Sheeran.

Soon after the episode aired, the troubadour deleted his Twitter for a short while — Sheeran reactivated the social media account soon after.

The episode’s director, Jeremy Podeswa, defended the cameo, saying the singer did “a lovely job”, adding that “he’s a lovely actor and a lovely person.”

“He was appropriate for the part because he needed to sing,” Podeswa told NewsWeek. “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.”

One of the many criticisms was that having such a huge star take centre stage was distracting from the actual scene, something the crew seemingly didn’t plan on.

“I think people interrogated it too much, they're bringing so much of his [superstar] presence into the thing which is far beyond what anybody was thinking going into it,” the six-time Game of Thrones director added.

“He is known to the producers of the show and some of the cast, and he's a gigantic fan of the show. As everybody knows, the show really eschews stunt casting—it's never, ever done that.”

Podeswa — who will helm the season seven finale — said the negative reaction was quite a surprise, considering the cast are well known around the world yet don’t distract from the show.

One reason for this may be because Kit Harrington, Emilia Clarke and Sophie Turner became famous through Game of Thrones; they are synonymous with being Jon Snow, Daenerys, and Sansa Stark. Ed Sheeran’s just Ed Sheeran.

“He comes with no entourage. There's nothing connected with him that's in the least bit self-aware or self-conscious,” Podeswa said,

“The only thing I don't feel great about is that Ed is such a lovely guy and really genuine and down to earth. He came into this with only lovely intentions to come and do a good job and sing well. So I think that's the only drag.”

Sheeran’s appearance may have been controversial, but for book readers, the scene took on another significance thanks to the song.

Game of Thrones airs on Sky Atlantic and streams on NOW TV.