‘Starkbucks’: ‘Game of Thrones’ Coffee-Cup Gaffe Lights Up Social Media

By Todd Spangler

LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) – Call her the Mother of Lattes?

HBO’s “Game of Thrones” season 8 episode 4 included a scene in which a takeout coffee cup — resembling the ubiquitous Starbucks containers — is clearly visible on a table in front of Daenerys Targaryen (Emilia Clarke) just before the 17:40 mark.

The out-of-time-and-place cup, which can be seen for about two seconds, was spotted by “GOT” fans shortly after the episode aired Sunday. As of Monday morning, it was on Twitter’s top 10 trending topics. Also trending on Twitter was the hashtag “Starkbucks,” a nod to the unexpected blending of House Stark and the Seattle-based coffee chain (although it’s not clear whether or not the cup is actually from Starbucks).

In an email to Variety, Hauke Richter, an art director for “” seasons 4-8, said he had not yet seen Sunday night’s episode but noted that it’s not uncommon for such misplaced elements to mistakenly end up in the final cut of TV shows and movies.

“Things can get forgotten on set,” Richter wrote. He said the coffee cup error has been “so blown out of proportion [because] it has not happened with ‘Thrones’ so far.” Images from “Game of Thrones” season 4 showing Jaime Lannister (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) holding a coffee cup went viral in 2014, but those were from a behind-the-scenes clip and didn’t appear in the show itself.

In its eighth and final season, “Game of Thrones” has had more than its share of social-media activity, as video from each of the first four episodes to date has leaked out ahead of ’s official release. On Sunday, scenes from episode 4, “The Last of the Starks,” showed up online in 30-second videos on Twitter and YouTube hours ahead of its premiere.

Naturally, the coffee-cup goof in the latest episode became instant fodder for jokes and memes, with some wondering how many outlets Starbucks has in Westeros. Read a recap of the episode, titled “The Last of the Starks” (warning: includes spoilers).

Pat Saperstein contributed to this report.