Ed Sheeran Will Guest Star on Game of Thrones Season 7

Here's your WTF news of the day: Game of Thrones has tapped none other than Ed Sheeran to be a guest star in an episode of the upcoming seventh season. Showrunners David Benioff and Dan Weiss announced the big news during an appearance at Austin's South by Southwest Film Festival on Sunday, saying that star Maisie Williams's love of the singer-songwriter was the reason behind it. "For years we were trying to get Ed Sheeran on the show to surprise Maisie, and this year we finally did it," Benioff told the crowd.

Although Sheeran might be the biggest name Game of Thrones has snagged for a cameo, he won't be the first famous musician to take a walk through Westeros. Bands like Sigur Rós and Mastodon have popped up, as well as Coldplay's Will Champion and Snow Patrol's Gary Lightbody. "A lot of [musicians] say they would like to [be on the show], and then we tell them [shooting a scene] is so boring," Weiss explained. "'You're gonna hate this — you're going to be sitting around three days for 12 hours a day.'" Sigur Rós's Jónsi Birgisson, for instance, thought he was done with the band's season three scene at Joffrey's wedding once they'd gotten a close-up of him, until he found out he had to stay on for another few days as a background actor. Luckily Weiss added that "He was a super good sport about it."

The "Shape of You" singer joins fellow season seven newcomers Jim Broadbent, Conor McGregor, and Tom Hopper.