[Editors’ note: The following post contains spoilers for “Game of Thrones.”]
“The Last of the Starks,” the fourth episode of the final season of “Game of Thrones,” featured numerous moments that got fans talking, from Cersei ordering the beheading of Missandei to Brienne losing her virginity to Jamie. And yet, no moment has gone as viral in the hours after the episode’s airing as the odd sight of a to-go plastic coffee cup placed on a table in front of Daenerys Targaryen. Was it a hugely obvious production gaffe or some kind of product placement? The answer is unclear, but press and “Thrones” fans delivered an onslaught of Starbucks/”Thrones” jokes on social media in reaction to the moment.
The coffee cup appeared early in the episode during the scene in which a majority of the main characters are drinking and feasting inside Winterfell following the defeat of the Night King and the white walker army. Tormund praises Jon Snow as a good fighter and leader while Daenerys sits behind and to the left, the blocking a clear representation of her fear that people would prefer Jon sit on the Iron Throne than herself. The shot as seen in the photo above includes a Starbucks cup sitting on the table in front of Daenerys.
One eagle-eyed Twitter user reminded fans that the coffee cup gaffe was not the first time “Thrones” made this kind of mistake. A photo from the show’s fourth season features Jamie (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) standing with the characters and holding a red coffee cup in his hand. HBO reacted to the gaffe by issuing the following statement: “The latte that appeared in the episode was a mistake. Daenerys had ordered an herbal tea.”
“Game of Thrones” continues with the series’ penultimate episode, airing Sunday at 9pm ET on HBO.
Daenerys Stormborn of House Targaryen, the First of Her Name, Queen of the Andals and the First Men, Protector of the Seven Kingdoms, the Mother of Dragons, the Khaleesi of the Great Grass Sea, the Unburnt, the Breaker of Chains, and Drinker of Pumpkin Spice pic.twitter.com/BOPdolRhXz
— Ira Madison III (@ira) May 6, 2019
1. After last week’s #GameOfThrones, the cinematographer had to fight off criticism that it was too dark and people couldn’t see.
2. So this week he inserts an offending Starbucks cup into dark scene.
3. People spot the cup, cinematographer vindicated.https://t.co/V2Xx05BatT
— Vlad Savov (@vladsavov) May 6, 2019
You’re telling me they had TWO YEARS to put together a decent show and they couldn’t even spot the goddamn Starbucks cup in Winterfell??!?! #GameOfThrones pic.twitter.com/8opg7nyydv
— Jenna Guillaume (@JennaGuillaume) May 6, 2019
Yes, that was a Starbucks coffee cup in front of the Mother of Dragons on tonight’s #GameofThrones https://t.co/cFrT0w5bW8 pic.twitter.com/wLGRX8mIip
— Marlow Stern (@MarlowNYC) May 6, 2019
For those of you who didn’t think the Starbucks cup gaffe was real, I went back to watch it and—#GameOfThrones pic.twitter.com/xNz2iBHySH
— Clarkisha Kent: Benioff and Weiss Hate Nick Gurrs (@IWriteAllDay_) May 6, 2019
Everyone freaking out about the Starbucks cup in a Game of Thrones episode is also forgetting about this masterpiece of television from a few seasons ago pic.twitter.com/qADPueM9Fu
— Pixlriffs 🎮 (@Pixlriffs) May 6, 2019
Look, we’ve been over this, if your TV is calibrated to the proper settings there was no Starbucks cup in last night’s Game of Thrones.
— Arnie Niekamp (@misterarnie) May 6, 2019
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