Ed Sheeran will appear in Game of Thrones season 7 for an adorable reason

Game of Thrones has had its fair share of famous guest stars, but the latest cameo comes from one of the music industry's hottest artists. Speaking to fans at the South by Southwest Film Festival in Austin, Texas on 12 March, showrunners David Benioff and Dan Weiss announced that Ed Sheeran would guest star in GoT season 7.

During the panel discussion moderated by Maisie Williams and Sophie Turner, Benioff revealed that they had tried to get Sheeran on the show for a long while as a treat for one of the show's actors, who is a big fan.

"For years we were trying to get Ed Sheeran on the show to surprise Maisie and this year we finally did it," the producer said.

With his appearance, the Shape Of You singer becomes the latest and the biggest music name to join the Game of Thrones guest list. Gary Lightbody of Snow Patrol, Coldplay's Will Champion as well as stars from Sigur Rós, and Mastodon also made cameo appearances in the previous seasons.

"A lot of [music artists] say they would they would like to [be on the show], and then we tell them [shooting a scene] is so boring. 'You're gonna hate this — you're going to be sitting around three days for 12 hours a day'," Weiss explained, recollecting how the lead singer of Sigur Rós, Jónsi Birgisson, wanted to leave after his season 3 close-up during Joffrey's wedding.

He had to be reminded to wait around for a few more days of further footage. "He was a super good sport about it," the showrunner said.

It has not been confirmed if Sheeran's role will require him to sing or act, or even if he will be recognisable in character. We have our fingers crossed hoping he does not play one of the White Walkers!