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A rogue cup turned up in Westeros ... and it sparked a global whodunnit with more knifings than the Red Wedding. Will we ever crack #Starbucksgate?
What’s in a coffee cup? Quite a lot, actually, when it is the Starbucks cup that made the most high-profile cameo in Game of Thrones since Ed Sheeran appeared as a Lannister soldier. No cultural artefact assumed a greater significance in 2019 than the Starbucks cup. An HBO staffer came, they frapped, then all hell broke loose. Will we ever solve 2019’s most enduring mystery?
First: a recap. Before the Starbucks cup became the cup, it was just a cup, left by a cast or crew member during a break in filming. It was the US YouTuber Zane Hijazi who spotted the error during the premiere of season eight’s fourth episode, The Battle of the Starks. Pandemonium ensued. In the scene, the Stark and Targaryen forces are carousing after winning the Battle of Winterfell. Enter stage left: the cup. “My favourite show in the entire world forgot a STARBUCKS COFFEE CUP ON THE TABLE WHILE FILMING,” Hijazi tweeted. The clip has been retweeted 146,000 times, and had more than half a million likes. Presumably none of those came from the HBO post-production team who failed to spot the offending receptacle and edit it out of the show. Continue reading...