Musically, Ed Sheeran had a great 2017, considering “Shape Of You” was one of the year’s biggest singles. In terms of his work in television, however, things didn’t go as well, since he got a ton of backlash after making a guest appearance on Game Of Thrones. He hasn’t given up on TV, though, and he’s starting 2018 with a shot at broadcast redemption by making a guest appearance on The Simpsons.
Last summer, it was reported that Ed Sheeran would be making a cameo on the long-running animated series, and now a quick 14-second preview of the episode, which airs on January 7th on Fox, has been shared. In the clip, Sheeran plays the piano, sips from a grape juice box, and jams with Lisa.
The Simpsons executive producer Al Jean previously told Entertainment Weekly that Sheeran’s character is a young, Ryan-Gosling-in-La-La-Land-like musician named Brendan who captures Lisa’s interest.
“He keeps alternating [between], ‘You’re not that great, but you could be fantastic,’ and she keeps falling for him because of his talent,” Jean said, painting Sheeran’s character as a sort of frustrating crush. Sheeran is a longtime fan of the show (he has a tattoo to prove it), so he was of course interested in being a part of the show.
“We had a perfect part for him,” Jean said. “So we said, ‘Oh, great, we’ll have him do this!’ And we recorded him over the phone from England.”
Watch the preview clip above.
