Game of Thrones director Jeremy Podeswa defends Ed Sheeran’s cameo appearance

You probably noticed that singer/songwriter/pop idol/inspiration Ed Sheeran popped up in “Dragonstone,” the Game of Thrones season 7 premiere, this past Sunday. He played the Lannister soldier who sung “Hands of Gold” as Arya Stark rode by on her horse.

Sheeran talked about his experience with HBO’s Making Game of Thrones blog, starting with how he landed the gig.

"I was on tour with Snow Patrol in 2012, and I think the first season had just come out. Gary Lightbody [Snow Patrol’s lead singer] said, “Watch the show! I’m going to guest star on it.” As soon as I watched it, I was like, “Can you make me an extra at some point?” So Gary put in the word for me then, and I got an email for this season. I had a week of studio scheduled, and I just cancelled it to come and film."

Lightbody, for reference’s sake, played the Bolton soldier who sung “The Bear and the Maiden Fair” back in season 3.

Overall, Sheeran enjoyed himself on set, despite the cold. He also enjoyed working with his pal Maisie Williams.

"It’s cool to see Maisie get into character. I think people expect her to be Arya Stark, but she’s just a sweet, smiley person. When I first got the scene and saw I was a Lannister soldier and playing opposite Maisie, I just assumed we’d all get killed at the end. I think the underlying theme is ‒ as in any war ‒ the soldiers are just people. We are young boys who don’t have qualms with anyone. We’re doing what we’re told, and I think Arya realizes the human side of that. She can just chill, have some food and crack some jokes."

Sheeran has been a fan of Game of Thrones for a while (he was fully aware that “Hands of Gold” originally appeared in the Song of Ice and Fire books and was written about Tyrion’s love affair with Shae), so he must have gotten a kick out of being part of the production.

But we can’t say the same for everyone who watched the episode. While plenty of fans approved of Sheeran’s appearance, others were less than pleased.

And so on. Sheeran’s account disappeared from Twitter not long after the episode aired, and it wasn’t hard to draw the conclusion that the Game of Thrones backlash had pushed him over the edge. But to be fair, he’s had a complicated relationship with Twitter for a while, telling The Sun back in June that “I go on it and there’s nothing but people saying mean things.” So maybe it wasn’t Game of Thrones that did it. Maybe it was just Tuesday.

And in any case, Sheeran’s account reappeared later in the day, although in a much abbreviated form — the only tweets are replies, and the most recent one was made back in 2015. His Instagram is still alive and well, though.

Personally, I didn’t have a problem with the cameo — he sang the song well, he wasn’t hugely important to the scene, and I didn’t find him distracting. Speaking to Newsweek, episode director Jeremy Podeswa had similar thoughts. “He was appropriate for the part because he needed to sing,” Podeswa said. “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.”

"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. 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. 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 described Sheeran as ego-free and entourage-less — if he has any regrets about the cameo, it’s the possibility that Sheeran might be upset by the reaction. “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.”

Next: Take the Black Podcast: Game of Thrones Season 7, Episode 1, 'Dragonstone'

Again, I didn’t see the problem with Sheeran on the show, but to each their own. As for Podeswa, we’ll see more of his work during the season 7 finale, which he also directed.

h/t BBC News