--- title: Ed Sheeran Doesn't See Himself Surviving 'Game of Thrones' description: The "Shape of You" singer explains how he got that 'Game of Thrones' cameo — and what's in store for his character. canonical: https://time.com/4929173/ed-sheeran-on-game-of-thrones/ author: Raisa Bruner article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-09-06T16:10:22.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:47:01.751Z og:title: Ed Sheeran Doesn't See Himself Surviving 'Game of Thrones' og:description: It was a short-lived role og:url: https://time.com/4929173/ed-sheeran-on-game-of-thrones/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb29e91d830a4a3e5/6988d601656a3f9b1abd0dc2/game-of-thrones-dragonstone-ed-sheeren.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2250 og:image:height: 1266 og:image:alt: game-of-thrones-dragonstone-ed-sheeren og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Ed Sheeran Doesn't See Himself Surviving 'Game of Thrones' twitter:description: It was a short-lived role twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb29e91d830a4a3e5/6988d601656a3f9b1abd0dc2/game-of-thrones-dragonstone-ed-sheeren.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Ed Sheeran Got Extremely Dark About His Future as a _Game of Thrones_ Character > Sponsored content. 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The Brief is available free at time.com/newsletters, where readers can select it along with any of TIME's other six newsletters. There is no subscription required to receive it. #### Is The Brief free? Yes. The Brief is a free daily email newsletter from TIME. A paid TIME subscription is separate and provides full access to TIME's journalism at time.com/subscribe-agent. #### Who writes The Brief? The Brief is led by editor Richard Hall and draws on reporting from TIME's newsroom. Every edition is assembled by TIME editors rather than generated automatically.  by [Raisa Bruner](https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/)  ## Raisa Bruner Sep 6, 2017 4:10 PM UTC  Ed Sheeran in Game of Thrones Ed Sheeran in Game of Thrones Helen Sloan—HBO  by [Raisa Bruner](https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/)  ## Raisa Bruner Sep 6, 2017 4:10 PM UTC **Warning:** This post contains spoilers for [_Game of Thrones_](http://time.com/game-of-thrones-2017/). One of the most talked about moments on season seven of _Game of Thrones_ was a cameo from [Ed Sheeran. ](http://time.com/4860369/game-of-thrones-ed-sheeran-surprise-cameo-reactions/)As it turns out, Sheeran — who’s better known for his [musical chops](http://time.com/4653758/shape-of-you-ed-sheeran-video/) than acting ability — had a little insider help in getting the role. “It was Maisie \[Williams\], who plays [Arya \[Stark\]](http://time.com/4901172/maisie-williams-arya-stark-sisters-fighting-game-of-thrones/),” the “Shape of You” singer [explained to MTV News](http://www.mtv.com/news/3034372/ed-sheeran-game-of-thrones-survived-season-7/) about his connection to the show. “She’s come to gigs for years. They basically put me in a scene with her to be like ‘Hey, thanks for doing the show for so many years. Ed’s gonna be in it.’ I think, anyway. That’s what I was told.” (Sheeran popped up as a friendly singing Lannister soldier in a low-key scene with Williams.) As for his shot at survival in the hard-knock world of Westeros? “We were all quite young, those soldiers,” Sheeran said. “I doubt I’m going to survive for that long, to be honest, when there are [dragons](http://time.com/4905542/game-of-thrones-ice-dragon-viserion/) in the world.” Indeed, Sheeran’s kind-hearted, music-loving character may not be a match for the fiery conditions at hand. And besides, he’s not interested in making a repeat appearance. “My whole thing was like, I didn’t want to be in it for that long. because I’m not an actor. I wanted to be in it for like 30 seconds or whatever, which I kinda was, so happy days,” he added. “No one [wants to see me](http://time.com/4863901/game-of-thrones-director-ed-sheeran-cameo/) come back.” Sheeran’s cameo inspired a [torrent of responses](http://time.com/4864929/ed-sheeran-game-of-thrones-twitter-deleted-cameo/) online, although the star has shrugged off the buzz. He’s currently on the U.S. leg of his world tour for his latest album, [_Divide._](http://time.com/4785875/best-albums-2017-so-far/item/ed-sheeran-divide/) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4929173/ed-sheeran-on-game-of-thrones/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4929173/ed-sheeran-on-game-of-thrones/"},"headline":"Ed Sheeran Got Extremely Dark About His Future as a Game of Thrones Character","datePublished":"2017-09-06T16:10:22.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:47:01.751Z","description":"The \"Shape of You\" singer explains how he got that 'Game of Thrones' cameo — and what's in store for his character.","url":"https://time.com/4929173/ed-sheeran-on-game-of-thrones/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Television","game of thrones","ed sheeran"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb29e91d830a4a3e5/6988d601656a3f9b1abd0dc2/game-of-thrones-dragonstone-ed-sheeren.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Raisa Bruner","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb29e91d830a4a3e5/6988d601656a3f9b1abd0dc2/game-of-thrones-dragonstone-ed-sheeren.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"game-of-thrones-dragonstone-ed-sheeren","caption":"Ed Sheeran in Game of Thrones","creditText":"Helen Sloan—HBO","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4929173/ed-sheeran-on-game-of-thrones/","name":"Ed Sheeran Got Extremely Dark About His Future as a Game of Thrones Character"}}]}] ```