***Mild spoilers about Ed Sheeran's Game of Thrones cameo below***

Maisie Williams might have been pleased that Ed Sheeran will be appearing in Game of Thrones but many have fans haven't been overly thrilled with the news. 

There is the (perfectly legitimate) fear that Sheeran's cameo will be distracting and the last thing Game of Thrones needs is a bit of stunt casting. 

Showrunner David Benioff confirmed at SXSW that Sheeran was given the cameo to please Williams so it would be easy to lay the blame solely at the feet of Aria Stark but according to Sheeran himself, someone else may have had a part to play in getting him cast. 

Sheeran has said that he once pleaded with Snow Patrol frontman, Gary Lightbody, to get him on the show. 

“My friend [Lightbody] guested in it in 2012 and I remember I was on tour with him and he was like: ‘Right, I’ve got a guest slot on Game Of Thrones.’ I remember saying: ‘You got to get me on it at some point.’ It’s been five years so it’s finally come true.”

Thanks a lot Gary! OK so David Benioff and Dan Weiss were probably more influenced by Williams than Lightbody but still. 

Sheeran has spoken to ComicBook.com about his appearance in the HBO show and has confirmed that the cameo is quite small. 

"I’m only in it for like five minutes.”

However if you had any fantasies about the British singer meeting a grisly end then you'll be disappointed. 

“I don’t die in it, I don’t die."
 

Via ComicBook.com