Venti pumpkin spice SPOILERS ahead from Game of Thrones Season 8 Episode 4.
Game of Thrones fans are foaming at the mouth more than usual this morning, and not just because of what happened to Rhaegal, Missandei, or poor neglected Ghost. Turns out, the final season of the most popular show on television somehow missed a coffee cup in a major scene in Winterfell. It sounds like a prank, or just a misunderstanding, but once the word spread, fans went back and noticed the same Starbucks-looking cup next to Daenerys Targaryen (Emilia Clarke) during the post-Battle of Winterfell celebrations:
Seven hells! How could a show that costs more to make than the GDPs of many countries miss something like that? Game of Thrones fans had a field day poking fun at the random coffee cup, instantly producing a battlefield's worth of memes:
One fan followed-up by asking if there was a dragon fly-thru lane -- but it might be too soon for that kind of joke. Poor Rhaegal. And WTF that Dany and Drogon just flew away and didn't even try to Dracarys Euron Greyjoy's sails on the way out.
Anyway, a few Game of Thrones fans found it particularly funny that the show would leave in this coffee cup after last week's dark visuals controversy. The Battle of Winterfell cinematographer defended the episode in the wake of fan complaints that they couldn't even see the action. He said he knew it wasn't too dark to watch because he shot it. So some fans brought that back for jokes in the wake of StarbucksGate:
"Starbucks Cup" ended up trending Monday morning, but are we even positive that was Starbucks and not just any generic coffee cup? The Starbucks angle is funny on its own, though, since there were already jokes out there about fitting all of Dany's titles on a cup. One fan also added Tormund to the joke, referencing his recent milk story and dramatic pre-battle chugging:
Since it at least looked like a Starbucks cup was involved, why not add more fast food product placement?
This fan really put in the work to add Starbucks cups throughout history. Maybe author George R.R. Martin should add a Starbucks note to the final two books in his A Song of Ice and Fire series to make it canon.
One fan pointed out another coffee cup (held by Jaime) in a previous Game of Thrones shot, although other viewers pointed out that this image didn't air on HBO and was probably just a set gathering for the actors.
Another fan brought in the infamous Downton Abbey plastic water bottle, although -- as fans were quick to note -- that too did not air in an episode, it just showed up in a promotional photo. Still, it was embarrassing enough for the PBS show.
So Game of Thrones gave fans a double shot of things to talk about after Season 8, Episode 4, which was titled "The Last of the Starks." Despite that ominous title, all of the current Starks are fine, save for Ghost, who didn't even get a head-pat or a "good boy" before Jon Snow sent him back to the true North.
It was a very rough episode for Dany, and not just because she now has guilt by association for being in a photo with that coffee cup. You can see her holding her own chalice, so it may have been Jon's cup. But, per usual, Dany gets the blame while Jon is praised.
Next up is the big final battle, the penultimate episode of the series. Dany vs. Cersei -- who will win the Game of Thrones, who will die, and who will order me an iced caramel macchiato? I'm ready. GoT continues Sundays at 9 p.m. on HBO.
