Since the end of Game of Thrones, the showrunners, Dan Weiss and David Benioff, have been somewhat controversial figures. Not just because a lot of people were frustrated with the way the show ended, and with problems like certain scenes filmed in ways that seemed to inevitably make them inscrutable on a lot of televisions, but because Benioff and Weiss didn’t really seem to want to talk about it. They’ve been unusually tight-lipped since the finale, and even cancelled a planned Comic-Con experience in a way that definitely looked like them avoiding some frustrated fans.
Now, there’s nothing wrong with avoiding frustrated fans. I certainly would. But that subtext does make their recent interview, one of their first times talking retrospectively about the show as a whole, kind of hilarious. Because, in a recent clip of an interview shared by Japanese outlet Star Channel, they just do not go there. At all. The reception of the final season? Not discussed. The audiovisual problems? Nah.
But, oh, Lord, do they talk about the coffee cup.
The notorious coffee cup, a minor gaffe in a shot of an episode that became, for reasons unknown, an incredibly big deal, sprouting memes and thinkpieces and everything else. B & W definitely talked about that.
『#ゲームオブスローンズ』製作総指揮
デヴィッド・ベニオフ、D・B・ワイス 撮影秘話インタビュー‼️
例のコーヒーカップ映り込み事件の真相も聞いちゃいました????♀️＜＜#スターチャンネル EXで配信中????＞＞
✅ゲーム・オブ・スローンズ 最終章（字・吹）
✅ゲーム・オブ・スローンズ：ラスト・ウォッチ pic.twitter.com/xDkUNTiEee— スターチャンネル (@starchannel) August 30, 2019
“It’s, like, you know, I think in Persian rugs, it’s tradition that you make a little mistake when making the rug, because only God can do anything perfect,” Benioff joked.
“That’s why I put the coffee cup there,” Weiss added. “Conscious, concerted statement of our imperfection.”
But, no, it was just a mistake. “We were concentrating so much on Daenerys and Jon Snow that we just didn’t see this coffee cup right in the middle,” Benioff said. “So, at first I couldn’t believe it, and then it was embarrassment. ‘How did we not see this coffee cup in the middle of the shot?’ And then, eventually, it was just kind of funny. This one is just a mistake, and it’s kind of funny to us now.”
The rest of peoples’ complaints with the season? Probably less funny. Maybe someday we’ll hear them talk about it. I’m curious to see what they’d have to say.