Each House of the Dragon episode costs under $20 million, but that hefty price tag doesn’t guarantee that everything will be perfect in the final cut. A case in point is a major CGI mistake that eagle-eyed fans spotted in the most recent episode of the Game of Thrones prequel series.
House of the Dragon CGI mistake
In the first episode of House of the Dragon, it was revealed that King Viserys (Paddy Considine) has a mysterious skin disease that has been getting worse over the years. In the third episode, which debuted last Sunday, it was clear that Viserys had lost a couple of fingers due to the illness, which appears to be flesh-eating in nature. However, in one shot, those missing fingers were still very visible, thanks to a green CGI glove that was meant to edit them out in post-production. You can check out the CGI error in the tweet below:
Not the green screen glove on Viserys’s missing fingers 🤣🤦🏻♀️#hotd pic.twitter.com/4CLUw5tDhI
— Sarah Capps (@SarahBKnowsBest) September 5, 2022
A Twitter user commented that the show’s special effects team probably had a very tight schedule that resulted in the overlooked mistake.
This is short time schedule for VFX. No time to clean scene.
— Carlos Mioto (@crmioto) September 5, 2022
Another House of the Dragon viewer speculated that the CGI team had given the dragons most of their attention and missed the tiny details.
The CGI team soo focused on the dragons they missed the small details.
— Stu (@y_zass) September 5, 2022
Naturally, some of the House of the Dragon audiences were disappointed with the error, given the show’s big production budget. Others, on the other hand, think it’s not big of a deal as it doesn’t significantly affect the narrative and the overall quality of the series.
20mil gets you this.
— Vernam7🌍💉💉💉💉💉💉💉🤦 (@JohnnyXp64) September 5, 2022
Also. On this. When he hands the letter to Daemon. The seal is already broken. Looks like after multiple takes. None of this takes away from the show. But still. 🫣😳🤓
— 🇦🇺 📷Sean Pualic 📸 🇦🇺 (@seany_boy71) September 5, 2022
Game of Thrones coffee cup snafu
House of the Dragon’s parent series Game of Thrones had a similar production gaffe, which made headlines during the final run of the hit HBO series back in 2019.
Fans were shocked and confused at the same time when they spotted a modern-day coffee cup during a large banquet scene in the third to the last episode of Game of Thrones. The out-of-place coffee cup was seen just an arm’s length away from Daenerys (Emilia Clarke), leading some fans to speculate that it belonged to the actress.
But Sophie Turner, who played Sansa Stark in the series, was blaming Jon Snow actor Kit Harrington for the much-talked-about production slip-up.
“The coffee cup was where Kit’s chair was. First I blamed it on Emilia, but I don’t think Emilia would do that,” said Turner during her appearance on the TBS late-night talk show Conan that same year. “Kit is lazy and I think he would have done that. 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.”
In an attempt to make Turner’s alibi stronger, host Conan O’Brien mentioned that the actress didn’t actually drink a lot of liquids on the set of the series. “Yeah, [that’s because] I wore a corset,” explained Turner. “[And if I drink a lot of liquids], I either piss myself or I throw up. So I am not really taking anything in.”
According to Turner, Clarke, who played Daenerys in the series, also wore a corset. And since Harington didn’t wear a corset or any similar piece of clothing on the show, Turner is a “hundred percent” sure that the Jon Snow actor was the one responsible for the coffee cup snafu.
Shortly after the mix-up went viral, HBO released a statement confirming that the coffee cup was indeed from the show’s craft services. Instead of making a big deal out of the fiasco, the network just made fun of it, saying, “The latte that appeared in the episode was a mistake. Daenerys had ordered a herbal tea.”
A day after the Game of Thrones episode premiered, HBO edited the coffee cup out of the shot. So it’s expected that HBO would also correct Viserys’ “missing” fingers in House of the Dragon episode 3 in no time.
House of the Dragon airs every Sunday at 9 p.m. ET on HBO. The series also streams on HBO Max.