After Ed Sheeran was pilloried in some quarters of social media for his cameo appearance in Game of Thrones, the show’s director Jeremy Podeswa has come to his defence, saying he is a “lovely performer” who “deserved to be there”.

Sheeran, who has previously complained of abuse on Twitter, left the social network altogether in the wake of the episode screening. But in an interview with the Daily Beast, Podeswa has said he is “a bit surprised that people have made that much fuss about it... he looks right in the show; he fits into the fabric of the show.”

Dressed in a cape and armour, Sheeran plays a musician whom Arya Stark stumbles upon in a forest – he strums a campfire song (“It’s a new one”) and shares some blackberry wine. The modest scene was nevertheless too much for some fans, who felt the sight of Sheeran was too jarring for the show’s fantasy realm. “I love this show, so in my view it could only have been better if Ed Sheeran wasn’t there,” one viewer told the Guardian earlier this week. “They will hopefully rectify that by having Arya skewer him.” Another called it a “really awful, unnecessary cameo”.

Podeswa, though, was full of praise for the singer. “If you didn’t know that he was a pop star or an entertainer of any kind, you would think he’s just one of the guys,” he said. “He’s been acting for a little while; he takes it very seriously.” Sheeran has previously cropped up in Bridget Jones’s Baby, playing himself, and appeared in episodes of another gory medieval drama, 2015’s The Bastard Executioner.

He is also the latest in a series of musical guests who have appeared on Game of Thrones, from Sigur Rós playing a wedding band to Wilko Johnson playing an executioner, plus cameos from members of Coldplay and Snow Patrol.