No TV show is perfect — not even Game of Thrones.
While the fantasy drama series has garnered a reputation for its attention to detail,
the people in charge got a little lazy on the latest episode, with fans spotting a glaring
mistake sitting in plain sight.
If you haven't seen the episode yourself, watch out — there are spoilers incoming.
Entitled "The Last of the Starks," episode 4 of Game of Thrones season 8 would have been
more appropriately named "The First of the Starbucks," as a single paper coffee cup was
accidentally left on a table while shooting — and it made the final edit.
"How could you let this happen?"
The immersion-destroying cup can be seen just next to Daenerys Targaryen in the Great Hall
at Winterfell's castle, where the survivors of the Battle of Winterfell are celebrating
victory over the Night King and the Army of the Dead.
Jon Snow is laughing it up with his pals; Brienne, Podrick, and the Lannister brothers
are playing a drinking game, Sansa is chatting with the Hound; and Daenerys is quietly freaking
out over how well-liked Jon is, knowing that if word of his true parentage gets out, almost
everyone will side with him over her to take the Iron Throne.
As Tormund sings Jon's praises while Dany watches, just between them on the table is
that out-of-place, out-of-time coffee cup, with a sleeve and a lid and everything.
The only thing we don't see is an actor's name.
Game of Thrones fans were quick to spot the error and post about it on social media, and
though some initially believed that the photos they saw online were fake, a rewatch of the
scene proves that it's no farce — the most recent episode of Game of Thrones really did
make a mistake by not clearing the table and accidentally including a coffee cup in the
shot.
"Madness.
Madness and stupidity."
Plenty of viewers found the blunder funny, while others took a harsher stance and slammed
the Game of Thrones creative team for being oblivious to the slip-up.
Journalist Eric Seales tweeted:
"So it takes @HBO @GameOfThrones almost 2 years to shoot season 8 and they forgot to
take away #Daenerys #Targaryen's @Starbucks cup in yesterday's episode??
Oops! #starbuckscup"
The folks from the You Watch, I Listen podcast had this to add:
"Seriously how did the Game of Thrones directors and editors absolutely MISS a Starbucks cup
left on the table during that scene?
'He's Jon Snow.
King in the North.
The drinker of latte's.'"
Many commenters felt it was pretty incredible that despite years of work and millions of
dollars spent to complete season 8's six episodes, everyone behind the scenes from the set to
the editing bay just missed the presence of the wayward coffee cup.
What I Like About Me author Jenna Guillaume even called back to episode 3's technical
problems by joking,
"maybe if they lit the show better they'd be able to spot their own basic mistakes."
The quips kept coming as the night continued, with one fan writing,
"feeling sorry for the starbucks [barista] that had to write out 'Daenerys Stormborn
of the House Targaryen, First of Her Name, the Unburnt, Queen of the Andals and the First
Men, Khaleesi of the Great Grass Sea, Breaker of Chains, and Mother of Dragons.'"
What a mouthful!
Though the immersion-breaking coffee cup seen in the episode sure looks like one from Starbucks,
it apparently isn't.
According to Game of Thrones art director Hauke Richter, it's actually from a local
coffeehouse in the town of Banbridge, Northern Ireland, around where the series filmed that
particular episode.
Richter, who has worked on Game of Thrones for the last five years, also told TMZ that
the coffee cup was an unfortunate mistake, and likely exhaustion-related.
He said,
"We are usually so diligent that this does not happen.
The shoot was very hard and demanding and it is likely that after a very tiring [episode]
3 shoot, this was simply overlooked by an exhausted crew."
The art director added that errors like this happen quite often on television and movies,
but that he felt people were quicker to notice this particular mistake due to Game of Thrones'
popularity.
As for HBO, the network released a statement the following day which helped to explain
things, reading in part,
"The latte that appeared in the episode was a mistake.
Daenerys had ordered an herbal tea."
Though the coffee cup seen on "The Last of the Starks" may have been a big blunder, it's
ultimately a harmless one.
In fact, if you load up the episode on HBO's streaming services now, you won't find it.
Just a few days after the episode aired, HBO announced that the editing wizards had digitally
removed the cup from the feasting table in Winterfell.
While the errant cup will live on in internet infamy forever, no longer shall a crew member's
leftover beverage sully your Game of Thrones viewing experience.
Praise to the seven.
"Bloody ridiculous."
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