‘Game of Thrones’: HBO Owns up to Glaring Starbucks Cup Error in Season 8, Episode 4

After fans spotted a Starbucks cup in Sunday’s episode of Game of Thrones, HBO surprisingly responded to the snafu, admitting that it was a mistake.

“In response to inquiries from those who saw a craft services coffee cup in Sunday night’s episode of GAME OF THRONES, HBO states, ‘The latte that appeared in the episode was a mistake. Daenerys had ordered an herbal tea,’” the network said in a statement.

Art director Hauke Richter told Variety it was not uncommon for things to get misplaced on sets, but this mistake was getting more attention because it happened in an episode of Game of Thrones’ final season.
“Things can get forgotten on set,” he wrote in an email. “[The coffee cup error has been] so blown out of proportion [because] it has not happened with ‘Thrones’ so far.”

During a very serious moment in Sunday’s episode “The Last of the Starks,” fans noticed that Daenerys Targaryen (Emilia Clarke) had a Starbucks cup sitting in full view of the camera, among the goblets of wine and beer. The mistake went viral, with “Starbucks” trending on Twitter for most of Monday. Of course, this led to some conspiracy theories that this was a planned product placement deal with the coffee chain, which joked about it on their Twitter page.

“TBH we’re surprised she didn’t order a Dragon Drink,” the company tweeted.

Even Jessica Simpson oddly tried to cash-in on the attention the Starbucks cup got with a promotion for her fashion store.

This is not the only mistake in Game of Thrones‘ history. Back in April, a Twitter user pointed out that someone wearing a modern outfit of a Patagonia jacket, blue jeans and boots walked through a scene. Others made fun of the extra for looking just like Sebastian Stan’s Bucky Barnes character from the Marvel movies.

While the Starbucks cup is getting all the attention from the episode a day after it aired, “The Last of the Starks” featured several important moments. At the very end, Missandei (Nathalie Emmanuel) was killed on the orders of Cersei Lannister (Lena Headey), setting up a final shot where Daenerys walked away in bitter anger.

In a post-show interview with Variety, director David Nutter said Clarke gave one of the best performances in the series during the episode.

“What was most amazing to me was Emilia’s performance at the end of the episode in which her face almost morphs and you see this hate that I’ve never seen from this character before,” Nutter explained. “You see this determination of what’s to come and it’s really quite frightening.”

The next episode of Game of Thrones airs on Sunday at 9 p.m. ET on HBO.

Photo credit: HBO