Ed Sheeran - H 2015
Ben WattsChart-topping singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran is heading to the small screen.
The six-time Grammy nominee has snagged a recurring role on Kurt Sutter’s forthcoming FX drama, The Bastard Executioner. The series, which is being billed as a blood-soaked medieval epic that tells the story of a 14th century warrior whose life is forever changed when a divine messenger beseeches him to lay down his sword and lead the life of a journeyman executioner, is currently filming in Sheeran’s native U.K. He’s set to play Sir Cormac, an ambitious and deadly protégé of a high-ranking church elder.
This marks a reunion for Sheeran, who declared himself a Sons of Anarchy fan during the biker drama’s final season, and Sutter, the series’ creator. The tweets led to a collaboration, with Sheeran recording a version of his bluesy cover of Foy Vance’s “Make It Rain” for the penultimate episode. More recently, Sheeran popped up in another Hollywood production, a live, springtime episode of NBC’s Undateable, and plans to air his special, Ed Sheeran: Live at Wembley Stadium, on the same network later this summer.
On Bastard, Sheeran joins a cast that’s fronted by True Blood’s Stephen Moyer, Sons’ Katey Sagal and stateside newcomers Lee Jones and Flora Spencer-Longhurst. Sutter, too, will appear in the hotly anticipated period drama, as he once did on Sons and, prior to that, The Shield. The latest FX Productions/Fox 21 TV Studios entry, which counts Brian Grazer and director Paris Barclay among its executive producers, is set to launch this fall.
News of Sheeran’s addition comes at a particularly busy time in the 24-year-old chart topper’s career. His second full-length album, Grammy-nominated x, shot to No. 1 in 14 countries, and has since seen its worldwide sales exceed 9 million. It achieved platinum status in 18 countries, including the U.S. and the U.K., where it became 2014’s top seller.
As Spotify’s most streamed artist in the world in 2014, Sheeran has been selling out shows around the world, including multiple nights at New York’s Madison Square Garden, along with London’s Wembley Stadium and the O2 Arena. He was crowned the Songwriter of the Year at the 2015 Ivor Novello Awards, and became a 5x finalist at this year’s Billboard Music Awards.
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