Months after the end of the final season, the Game of Thrones showrunners are finally speaking out about that errant coffee cup in one of the episodes.
In a new interview on Japan’s Star Channel, co-creators David Benioff and D. B. Weiss addressed the gaffe for the first time, saying that they now see it as “funny.”
“We were concentrating so much on Daenerys and Jon Snow that we just didn’t see this coffee cup right in the middle,” Benioff, 48, said. “So at first I couldn’t believe it, and then it was an embarrassment because, ‘How did we not see this coffee cup in the middle of the shot?’ And then, eventually, it was just funny. This one is just a mistake, and it’s kind of funny to us now.”
Benioff also compared the mistake to making a Persian rug, explaining that “it’s tradition that you make a little mistake, because only God can do anything perfect. So I guess for us, that was just our… Persian rug,” he said.
Weiss, 48, agreed jokingly: “That’s why I put the coffee cup there.”
David Benioff and D.B. Weiss
Taylor Hill/Getty
During the show’s final season earlier this year, a modern-day disposable coffee cup could be seen in one scene of the episode “Last of the Starks,” in front of Emilia Clarke‘s character Daenerys.
The cup, which rested on a table in Winterfell’s great hall during a post-battle feast, was later digitally removed from the scene on HBO Go. The network took a lighthearted approach in their response to the flub, joking in a statement that “the latte that appeared in the episode was a mistake. Daenerys had ordered an herbal tea.”
RELATED: Sophie Turner Jokingly Blames the Game of Thrones Coffee Cup on ‘Lazy’ Kit Harington
Since the cup went viral, Game of Thrones stars have jokingly taken turns blaming each other for its appearance.
In June, Sophie Turner, who played Sansa Stark, defended herself against people who blamed her for the cup and named two of her costars as potential suspects.
“The coffee cup was where Kit [Harington]‘s chair was,” said Turner, 23, during an appearance on Conan. “First I blamed it on Emilia, but I don’t think Emilia would do that.”
“Kit is lazy and I think he would have done that,” she continued jokingly. “It was in front of Kit’s chair and then obviously he moved and this picture was taken and it looked like it was in my seat, but I wasn’t there either. It was Kit. It was a hundred percent Kit.”
Nathalie Emmanuel, Emilia Clarke and Sophie Turner
Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic
Turner’s husband Joe Jonas — who spent much of his time on set while Thrones filmed its eighth and final season — also had to field accusations that he was responsible for the mishap.
“I wish it was me!” he said during a May appearance on First We Feast’s viral celebrity interview show Hot Ones.
“That would be amazing if it was,” chimed in brother Nick Jonas. “That would have been so incredible, if you basically f—ed something up in Game of Thrones.”
RELATED: HBO Responds to the Infamous Coffee Cup Left on Table During Winterfell Feast in Game of Thrones
