Mother of dragons and teller of Starbucks secrets!
Game of Thrones star Emilia Clarke is clearing up who was behind that infamous coffee cup once and for all. In 2019, the fourth episode of GoT season eight titled "The Last of the Starks" featured a very out of place Starbucks cup in front of Clarke's character, Daenerys Targaryen.
Clarke revealed in a June 10, 2021 video with theSkimm that her own morning beverage of choice isn't what fans may think. "It's not Starbucks—spoiler," Clarke joked before shifting the blame. "I'm going to say it again for the record: was not mine. Looking at you Dan Weiss."
HBO previously quipped in a press statement following the episode airing, "The latte that appeared in the episode was a mistake. Daenerys had ordered an herbal tea." Meanwhile the season eight art director Hauke Richter reportedly called the situation "so blown out of proportion" as countless memes appeared in its wake. Even Starbucks tweeted they were surprised Daenerys "didn't order a Dragon Drink."
The network eventually removed the coffee cup from the episode in May 2019.
GoT creator Weiss has yet to respond to Clarke's playful accusation, but his account in James Hibberd's book Fire Cannot Kill a Dragon is a little different from Clarke's recollection.
"I'd seen that shot one thousand times, and we're always looking at their faces or how the shot sat with the shots on either side of it," Weiss is quoted. "Every production that's ever existed had things like this. You can see a crew member in Braveheart; there's an actor wearing a wristwatch in Spartacus. But now people can rewind things and everybody is talking to each other in real time. So one person saw the coffee cup, rewound it, and then everybody did."
Clarke also told Jimmy Fallon on The Tonight Show in Oct. 2019 that co-star Conleth Hill who played Lord Varys was the caffeine lover behind the infamous Starbucks order.
"Here's the truth. We had like a party before the Emmys recently, and Conleth, kay? He plays Varys. He's sitting next to me in that scene. He pulls me aside and he's like, 'Emilia, I've got to tell you something. I've got to tell you something, love. The coffee cup was mine,'" Clarke explained. "It was his. It was Conleth's coffee cup. He said so."
Even Sophie Turner teased Clarke was behind it all along in May 2019: "Emilia Clarke, she's the culprit!"
Seems like the Starbucks saga has outlived the Starks!