Are the White Walkers cloud macchiato folks? Do the Dothraki prefer green tea frappuccinos with extra whip? (Just kidding! The Dothraki are all dead.) Can Dany’s dragons even consume Pike Place caffeinated blends? Vulture is asking the very important, very relevant questions to start our morning, as this week’s Game of Thrones episode televised what might be a stray coffee cup in a scene. It’s not even that hard to miss, really: If you fast-forward to 17:39 to where Dany, Jon, Tormund, and their merry band of pals are hangin’ out, the cup is visible on a table. Yes, this season took two years to make in a strive for perfection.
To add a further layer of hilarity, the show’s creators, D.B. Weiss and David Benioff, were also in the scene. Because they can!
Each episode of this final Game of Thrones season reportedly cost an astounding $15 million to make, so, yeah, we guess we’re a little bummed that the money was diverted to dragon CGI and not a continuity editor. (Or, in the case of episode three’s divisive cinematography, decent lighting.) However, after hours of eagerly anticipating what the show and/or network would say in regards to the gaffe, Game of Thrones executive producer Bernadette Caulfield appeared on WNYC this afternoon to offer her apologies — and her healthy sense of humor. “I can’t believe it. Our on-set prop people and decorators are so on-it 1000 percent. Nowadays you can’t believe what you see because people can put things into a photo that really doesn’t exist. We’re sorry!” she explained. “Westeros was the first place to have Starbucks, it’s a little known fact. If that’s the worst thing that they’re finding, we’re in good shape. Starbucks, send us money!”
Extremely important update, 4:39 p.m.: HBO confirmed the gaffe in a cheeky statement. “In response to inquiries from those who saw a craft services cup in Sunday night’s episode of Game of Thrones,” it reads, “HBO states, ‘The latte that appeared in the episode was a mistake. Daenerys had ordered an herbal tea.’” Sad day for Starbucks fans everywhere.
