Game of Thrones Goof: Apparently Daenerys Drinks Starbucks

Last night's episode wasn't good, but at least there was a coffee cup plainly visible in one scene

TV News Game of Thrones
Game of Thrones Goof: Apparently Daenerys Drinks Starbucks

Thumbnail image for SpoilerWarning.jpg

Either Game of Thrones is pioneering the art of subtle, anachronistic product placement, or, uh, somebody goofed.

Sunday night’s episode of the HBO juggernaut’s final season was the worst of the bunch, and to make matters worse, the show is being mocked all over social media this Monday morning for leaving a modern coffee cup—Starbucks, it looks like—plainly visible in one of the episode’s early, Winterfell-set celebration scenes. See for yourself:

Screen Shot 2019-05-06 at 11.59.18 AM.png

We’d crack wise about the poor Starbucks barista tasked with writing the Dragon Queen’s countless titles on her cup, but half of Twitter already has.

Viewers also went to the trouble to confirm the cup wasn’t added after the fact by some prankster:

Indeed, you can hop on HBO GO right now like we did and spy the cup with your raven’s third eye at the 17:39 mark of the episode. Our guess is it will be digitally removed at some point (particularly after all this commotion over it), making this a precious piece of TV nerd trivia.

We can only imagine some poor editor somewhere is having a rough morning, but this coffee cup gaffe was hardly the worst thing about “The Last of the Starks.” From forcing Daenerys into the Mad Queen mold, to having Sansa express gratitude for her tormentors, to fridging Missandei (the second episode in a row Thrones has played fast and loose with the lives of its characters of color), the writers whiffed on a whole lot, leaving us Night King-cold going into the show’s last two episodes. But at least they made the world’s most expensive Starbucks ad!

Read our review of “The Last of the Starks” here. Game of Thrones airs Sundays at 9 p.m. ET on HBO.

Update #1, May 6: HBO addressed the coffee cup kerfuffle in a statement issued to THR, responding to “inquiries from those who saw a craft services coffee cup in Sunday night’s episode” by joking, “The latte that appeared in the episode was a mistake. Daenerys had ordered an herbal tea.”

Update #2, May 7: HBO has digitally removed the coffee cup from the episode.

Share Tweet Submit Pin