Spoilers for Game of Thrones Season 8 and coffee are discussed beyond this point.
Game of Thrones fans have been having an exorbitant amount of fun after a viewer spotted a huge continuity gaffe. There was a Starbucks coffee cup on the North’s equivalent of the Iron Throne, sitting right on the table where Jon Snow, Daenerys, and Tormund were celebrating humanity’s victory against the dead.
The internet seized the moment. Unlike the Night King, this coffee cup mistake does not appear to be dying online any time soon . However, HBO has done their part to remove the sight of it from future viewings. It has been removed from streaming versions through the magic of editing. Check out the proof below:
Missing a very modern coffee cup is not what anyone on Game of Thrones’ crew wanted as they set up the scene, filmed it and then readied it for air the first time. However, the power of editing makes it possible to keep future viewers from seeing it. Editing it out as quickly as possible is the right way to go, and certainly the next best thing after missing it in the first place.
This is a more significant response to the one that HBO had on Monday. After news of the coffee cup went viral, HBO had a laugh at its own expense. The network entered the fray with what Tyrion would have to describe as a “clever” response to the error. This is what they had to say in the initial aftermath:
The latte that appeared in the episode was a mistake. Daenerys had ordered an herbal tea.
Making the matter go all the more viral is that Game of Thrones had an important behind-the-scenes presence in that scene. It turns out that the scene was the same one that the series’ showrunners made their big Season 8 cameo in, per BuzzFeed.
While some believe that was all the more reason for someone to have caught it, it may be the exact opposite. David Benioff and D.B. Weiss may have been busy with their cameos and missed it, not to mention every crew and cast member dealing with the bosses being around and not paying as much attention to detail. Sadly, for Benioff and Weiss, a coffee cup has stolen the thunder of their cameo.
Game of Thrones is not the first high-profile series on HBO to endure a notable continuity error. The premium cabler had to deal with a cameraman showing up in a scene of Westworld. Leading some fans to speculate that it may not have actually been a mistake.
Unfortunately for Game of Thrones, this is a much more cut-and-dry scenario. It would be interesting to know if HBO is having people do a triple check of the final two episodes. No one (including Arya) wants a coffee cup or another out-of-place visual to rain on the parade of the ending chapters for the epic show.
Game of Thrones’ final season continues with new episodes airing Sundays at 9 p.m. ET on HBO.
