You know, sometimes when a show has to create massive dragons and mythical worlds out of CGI, the little things can get missed. On Game of Thrones, it was most infamously that Starbucks cup error. Its prequel House of the Dragon may have dodged any anachonistic prop errors so far, but one noteworthy VFX snafu stood out to eagle-eyed fans. (When there are so many people watching the show it breaks HBO records, the mistakes are bound to get caught.) For HotD, two green fingers accidentally slipped past the FX team, but HBO is apparently already working to fix it.
King Viserys is missing two fingers on his left hand after having caught a flesh-eating infection, and actor Paddy Considine wears a partial green glove on that hand so the digits can be removed later in post-production. Or not at all, it seems. In the third episode of the prequel series, fans were quick to spot the VFX gaffe in a scene featuring King Viserys handing a note to a footman, as all five fingers (two of them green) appeared on the screen. According to THR, an HBO source said the error will be fixed and the revised episode will be available later this week.
For now, though, the moment will live on in viral infamy...
Not the green screen glove on Viserys’s missing fingers 🤣🤦🏻♀️#hotd pic.twitter.com/4CLUw5tDhISeptember 5, 2022
While there were many valuable lessons for House of the Dragon to learn from its predecessor, the Starbucks cup incident was one that had already been addressed by the creative team. Ryan Condal, the co-showrunner of HotD, previously joked to THR before the first episode dropped that the show had “a very heavily policed set — there was lots of Starbucks-hunting going on.”
The cup in question showed up in GOT’s final season during the fourth episode. While everyone is celebrating the death of the Night King, Daenerys looks pensively into the distance, but the cup became the star of the moment instead of the Mother of Dragons.
HBO execs and show producers had a great attitude toward the Starbucks incident. After the hysterical memes spread far and wide across the internet, the company responded in good humor saying Daenerys did not order a latte but rather herbal tea, making the cup a mistake even on that front. Not long after the jokes spread around, the cup was edited out of the episode. For shows with such immense detail, it’s logical that mistakes happen, however, with fans who notice literally everything, the smallest errors are bound to be caught and likely become viral memes.
Game of Thrones was a cultural phenomenon and House of the Dragon seems to be on a similar trajectory. With over 10 million people tuning in, the show is wildly popular and received a swift renewal for Season 2. There has already been massive news coming from the prequel after only three episodes, including one of the showrunners stepping down for Season 2.
With the world watching one of the most popular TV shows this fall, all eyes will be on Episode 4 next Sunday night to see if any other details can be caught. Whether you want to see the corrected scene, try to catch the green before it’s gone, or just wants to tune in for the next episode, House of the Dragon can be watched on HBO or with a HBO Max subscription.
