Ed Sheeran’s Game of Thrones cameo leaves viewers ‘confused’

The singer made an appearance alongside star Maisie Williams

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Knight of Cameo-lot: Sheeran guest-starred in the Game of Thrones new series premiere
HBO

It’s been a fairly open secret, but that didn’t stop Ed Sheeran leaving Game of Thrones fans completely baffled with his cameo appearance in the series seven premiere.

The singer guest-starred in a scene with This Is England’s Thomas Turgoose and GoT regular Maisie Williams, who plays Arya Stark.

Sheeran and Turgoose played soldiers sat having a singsong around the campfire in the woods.

Williams’ character Arya stumbled across the group of men, leading to some sharing of blackberry wine and what looked like roasted rodent - it must have been like Glastonbury all over again for the Galway Girl singer.

Viewers expressed their confusion at seeing such a famous non-acting talent pop up in their favourite fantasy show.

But not everyone was impressed with his acting skills.

It’s not the first time a musician had made cameo in Game of Thrones (members of Coldplay and Sigur Ros have also taken on roles), but Sheeran was given more screen time than any other guest-star and the storyline was left open for him to appear in further episodes.

Game of Thrones: Season 7 - In pictures

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​Showrunner David Benioff previously explained that Sheeran's star turn was in part a gift to Williams: "We knew that Maisie [Williams] was a big fan of Ed Sheeran and for years we’ve been trying to get him on the show so we can surprise Maisie.

"This year we finally did it."

Game of Thrones series seven will air on Mondays at 2am and then again at 9pm on Sky Atlantic. You can also watch new episodes on Now TV.