The world of George R.R. Martin's Game of Thrones, which is filmed in Ireland and Malta, is a bloody one. As fans have discovered no main character, no matter how beloved, is safe from sword or sorcery.

But some viewers are crying foul after a recent episode cut to a head on spike that looked jarringly familiar: it was former two-term president George W. Bush.

It wasn't a political statement the show's runners claimed this week. 'George Bush’s head appears in a couple beheading scenes,' the show runner told the Washington Post. 'It’s not a choice; it's not a political statement. It’s just, we had to use what heads we had around.'

The resemblance to the former president although striking was unintentional a show runner claimed.

'We use a lot of prosthetic body parts on the show: heads, arms, etc. We can’t afford to have these all made from scratch, especially in scenes where we need a lot of them, so we rent them in bulk. After the scene was already shot, someone pointed out that one of the heads looked like George W. Bush,' the source said.

'We were deeply dismayed to see this, and find it unacceptable, disrespectful and in very bad taste,' HBO said Thursday in a statement. The cable networks intends to remove the scene from all future DVD shipments and future airings.