Maisie Williams is proud to count Ed Sheeran as a friend after she reached out to him on social media

She told the Times newspaper: "I tweeted him and he tweeted me back and it was just the coolest thing ever!"

The 20-year-old actress also defended Ed's appearance in the HBO fantasy drama after some fans complained having the pop superstar in the show was too distracting.

Maisie said: "He looks like a guy you'd bump into on the street, so I think it does work - it would be weird if it was Justin Bieber."

Maisie was cast in 'Game Of Thrones' when she was just 12 and has grown up in the spotlight and previously admitted she felt like was made to feel like an adult before she was.

However, she feels more normal now, adding: "That's all evening out and I feel like a 20-year-old now. It's quite interesting being interviewed so much through my adolescence because there's things I can look back at now ... I've come a long way. I was a really cynical teenager and I feel like I'm a nicer, more wholesome person now."

Meanwhile, co-star Sophie Turner has previously confessed she "ruined" Ed's surprise cameo for Maisie, by giving the game away.

Sophie - who plays Arya's sister Sansa Stark - said: "That was fun because Maisie loves Ed Sheeran and [creators] David [Benioff] and Dan [Weiss] had it as, like, a surprise for her.

"So they just, they didn't tell her. I told her by accident! I was like, 'Oh, when's Ed Sheeran coming on the show?' But yeah, they kind of did it as a surprise. I was kind of mad because I've been talking about [Justin] Bieber coming on the show for a while now. But it's fine, I'm over it."