At 2am on Monday 17 July 2017, thousands of people stayed up across the UK for the premiere of the first episode of season seven of Game Of Thrones.
Within the previous six series, celebrity cameos have not been unheard of, yet episode one of the seventh instalment featured arguably its biggest one yet.
As Arya Stark (played by Maisie Williams) travelled on horseback through a wood, she stumbled across a group of soldiers midway through singing a campfire song.
Who was among those soldiers, singing? Yes, Ed Sheeran. Subtle? Not at all.
Credit: HBO / Game Of Thrones
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For the rest of the scene he got the close-up camera shot treatment, and can often be seen loitering around in other shots as Arya and the soldiers exchanged banter.
Credit: HBO / Game Of Thrones
For true Game Of Thrones fans, Sheeran was an unnecessary edition, but for those who'd rather side with Ed than Arya, it was a welcome part of the show.
Superfan Samuel James told LADbible: "The opening was a perfect mix, both thrilling and vengeance, with a resurgent Stark preparing to write the wrongs from the last six series.
"However, as soon as I saw Ed Sheeran I was pretty annoyed. He got too much screen time and was out of place.
"Game Of Thrones is known for great cameos by great actors, and this just cheapened an anticipated series. He may as well have done a melody from his album, Divide."
Sheeran has joined other musicians, such as members of Coldplay, Snow Patrol, Sigur Ros and Mastodon, in appearing on the show.
Co-showrunner David Benioff explained the cameo, saying: "We knew that Maisie 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."
Credit: HBO / Game Of Thrones
The scenes didn't suggest the end of Sheeran appearing in any more episodes, although he is not in the trailer for the next one.
The second episode is titled 'Stormborn' and, as HBO teased, it states: "Daenerys (Emilia Clarke) receives an unexpected visitor. Jon (Kit Harington) faces a revolt. Tyrion (Peter Dinklage) plans the conquest of Westeros."
The first episode was 59 minutes long, and the second will be, too, but as the series progresses the shows get longer.
Episodes six and seven (the final two) will be a record (for the show) 71 and 81 minutes long, respectively.
Featured Image Credit: HBO / Game Of ThronesTopics: UK, Ed Sheeran, Game of Thrones, US
