Anyone who kept up with news about the eighth and final season of Game of Thrones will have no problem recalling the drama surrounding a certain coffee cup that was left on the table in the Great Hall of Winterfell and visible during “The Last of the Starks,” an error that fans were quick to point out — and then turn into memes.
Now, psychedelic pop artist Nicky Barkla has taken things one step further, creating an entire art series that honors and pokes fun at the incident. The series of paintings, which are being hosted as a poster series by Poster Posse, features six key characters from the HBO series sipping on Starbucks drinks.
“I’m a keen watcher of the show, much like most — I think folks need fantasy worlds to retire to when reality gets a bit dull, it’s part of our popular culture!” Barkla told SYFY WIRE. “So having a Starbucks drink, something from our reality, show up in a Game of Thrones scene probably jarred people a bit — ‘that’s not supposed to be there!’”
This train of thought got Barkla thinking about what it would look like if Starbucks did belong in the Seven Kingdoms. Let’s take a look at some of his work, starting with a painting of the Night King himself enjoying what I’m going to assume is an iced drink:
In addition to the Night King, many of the major characters are represented (with the exception of the Lannisters, who perhaps prefer Dunkin‘ Donuts).
We’ve got the newly crowned king and Three-Eyed Raven enjoying his coffee in the godswood:
Next, Arya finally discovered what’s west of Westeros: unicorn frappuccinos. It should technically be “No One” on the cup, not “Nobody,” but misspelling names on cups is practically a Starbucks tradition:
Barkla’s depiction of Dany is particularly gorgeous, showcasing her dragons flying in the background and flames surrounding her while she drinks her coffee:
You can see more of these posters, as well as Barkla’s other work, on her website.
As long as we’re talking about coffee cup-gate again, The Orville post producer Andre Danylevich recently told Cinema Blend that Game of Thrones is far from alone when it comes to these kinds of mistakes. “It’s like the water bottle and coffee cup in Game of Thrones. We legitimately have those issues as well,” he said. “You gotta make sure that stuff’s not in there, we have to take it out in post.”
Game of Thrones took the infamous coffee cup out in post, too, but not before it blew up. Personally, I’m looking forward to a full Starbucks on the next season of The Last Kingdom.
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