This is what Game of Thrones’ director has to say to you if you hated Ed Sheeran in Episode 1

Warning: contains minor spoilers about Game of Thrones season seven.

Games of Thrones season 7 premiered this month, shattering records. Because it’s clear that fans of the series worldwide were hungry to watch the continuation of HBO’s smash-hit series, and were glued to their TVs as events unfolded in the first episode of the seventh season.

But despite the fact that most pundits agree that this was a strong start to another season of Game of Thrones, there was some upset in social networks regarding the casting of well-known singer Ed Sheeran in the season seven debut. You see, not all viewers were happy to see the renowned singer in their favourite show, and took to Facebook and Twitter to express their dissatisfaction.

However, Game of Thrones director Jeremy Podeswa has spoken out to defend Sheeran, saying in an interview with Newsweek that Sheeran “did a lovely job” in this season seven debut.

“He was appropriate for the part because he needed to sing. If people didn’t know who Ed was, they wouldn’t have thought about it twice”, added the Game of Thrones director.

Podeswa also admitted that he found that the negative reaction to Sheeran’s casting caught him off guard.

“I was quite surprised about the reaction actually because I know he’s very well known and a successful singer but you’re in the bubble of the show—the cast are well known too, everybody is really well known…none of them can walk down the street without being followed. You don’t think about that very much in this context”, said Podeswa.

The director also said that Game of Thrones’ makers were not fond of “stunt casting”, and also commented that Sheeran was actually a big fan of the show and hoped the singer would not be hurt by all the negative reaction to his performance.

But given that Game of Thrones is watched by millions of people worldwide and is based on an equally popular series of novels, each episode of the series will end up being scrutinized all over by a legion of fans, meaning it’s likely people will find some aspect of the show to criticize.

But still, as long as this ends up being another great season of Game of Thrones that fans enjoy, all will be well in the end though…