Here’s a headline we didn’t expect to be writing in the aftermath of Game of Thrones 8×04: HBO has issued a statement on the coffee cup that someone slipped through the cracks and featured in last night’s “The Last of the Starks.”
It’s already spawned a hundred memes and gained more free publicity for Starbucks than a carefully orchestrated marketing campaign, and yet, we’re still in disbelief as to how an innocuous little coffee cup evaded producers and wound up in the final cut. Chances are this shot was filmed multiple times, and the Powers That Be eventually settled on a particular take without realizing that Emilia Clarke’s Starbucks coffee was there for all to see.
And now, HBO has released a brief statement on the matter:
The latte that appeared in the episode was a mistake. Daenerys had ordered an herbal tea.
How come Westeros got a Starbucks when Wakanda didn’t? Did Cersei use her Lannister fortune to bankroll the coffeehouse? In all seriousness, the industry giant poked fun at the error, and asked the question on everyone’s lips: shouldn’t Daenerys Stormborn, first of her name, Breaker of Chains and Protector of the Realm, be drinking something a little fancier than a regular old latte?
Via Twitter:
TBH we're surprised she didn't order a Dragon Drink.
— Starbucks (@Starbucks) May 6, 2019
Game of Thrones 8×05 airs via HBO on Sunday, May 12th, at which point we’ll see a nail-biting standoff between Cersei Lannister and Daenerys Targaryen, the pretender to the throne. She may only have one dragon left, but with fire in her belly and a glint of malice in her eye, we fully expect a royal rumble to occur this weekend. And that’s before we even consider the impending Cleganebowl involving Sandor and Gregor.