It was the Starbucks coffee cup seen around the world. The gaffe that launched a million Twitter jokes. During the final season of Game of Thrones, eagle-eyed fans spotted the now-infamous cup in the middle of the scene where the living are celebrating in the victory over the dead. Ever since then, there have been a lot of names thrown around regarding which actor was really responsible for the error. Kit Harington (known for the role of Jon Snow) recently weighed in on the fact that he himself made it onto the distinguished list of usual suspects.
Many just simply assumed that it was Emilia Clarke’s coffee cup, considering how it was seen on the table right in front of the illustrious Daenerys Targaryen. But she has denied it up, down, and center. In fact, while on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon she claimed that Conleth Hill (Lord Varys) told her that it was his. (Sureeeee, I got it. That’s what Dany wants us believe!) Arya Stark (played by Maisie Williams) is kind of, sort of ruled out, considering she wasn’t even in the scene in question. Conversely, Sophie Turner attempted to throw speculation off Sansa’s trail by blaming Clarke and then later on, while appearing on Conan, suggesting it might be Kit Harington’s fault, joking that he was “lazy.”
The Jon Snow star recently spoke Uproxx while promoting his upcoming turn as Dane Whitman in Marvel Studios’ Eternals, during which he addressed the coffee cup blame game. And it would seem we will never get to the bottom of it because the Game of Thrones star said:
Well, she [Sophie Turner] blamed me for that. And I swear it wasn’t! Other than that, as far as spoilers, no, I didn’t. I’m pretty good! I’m pretty sure I didn’t mess anything up.
I’m kind of convinced at this point that after HBO notoriously had to edit the cup out of the scene, the entire cast made a pact to never own up to the criminal coffee drinker. To keep the bit alive, you know? Also, some mysteries are better left as that, mysteries. (Unless it comes to the GoT characters’ ambiguous futures, because I need/want to know more.)
Game of Thrones is now over, but the story lives on with the many spinoffs coming through the pipeline. House of the Dragon, a Targaryen-centric prequel, premieres next year, and we’re likely in for some hefty cultural dialogue about incestuous monarchies. Hopefully, no one left a coffee cup on set while filming… I mean, who would they blame at that point – the dragons?
Again, for the record, Kit Harington denies it was him. Like Jon Snow, he knows nothing (about coffee cups, drinking coffee, or anything of the sort). You can revisit the awkward moment by streaming the hit series on HBO Max now.
