Game of Thrones developments came fast and furious in this week’s episode, but people were all hung up on the Starbucks coffee cup that appeared before the larger action scenes went down. That’s what we get for asking HBO to brighten things up, right? We can see everything, even the clearly mistaken implication that Westeros has a Starbucks. Very quickly, a Thrones producer apologized while expressing disbelief that the prop department hadn’t caught this, and HBO later followed up with the following statement issued to AdWeek’s Jason Lynch. Within a few lighthearted sentences, HBO owned their mistake:
“In response to inquiries from those who saw a craft services coffee cup in last night’s episode of GAME OF THRONES, HBO states, “that latte that appeared in the episode was a mistake. Daenerys had ordered an herbal tea.”
The premium cable network did, however, apparently hop into the editing room and remove the offending cup, so they didn’t want to own the slip-up forever. (The Verge noticed the removal first, and I rewatched the scene to confirm as much, so yep, it’s gone.) Here’s the after and before, in that order.
Westeros had Starbucks before Wakanda did.#GameOfThrones pic.twitter.com/dkDy6pQ0Xz
— エース (@aceeeiou) May 6, 2019
https://twitter.com/snailemslot/status/1125298341011759105
Entertainment Weekly reports that HBO has issued a acknowledged the removal: “HBO confirms the cup has now been digitally edited out of existence from Westeros on its streaming services. It exists now only in our memory. And in hundreds of screengrabs and memes.”
RIP, Westeros Starbucks! It’s too bad that the Night King didn’t get his own themed drink before the coffee shop was wiped from the Winterfell history books. And I refuse to believe that Dany would be content with herbal tea rather than something with more kick. That’s like picking Jon Snow over Khal Drago or something.
(Via The Verge & Entertainment Weekly)
