Dark Side of Game of Thrones Stunts: Stunt Accident Video Leak Sparks Safety Concerns at HBO

A leaked video showing a stunt gone wrong during the filming of Game of Thrones has led to renewed questions about how safe the sets really are on HBO productions. The clip, obtained by Deadline, shows stuntman Andy Pilgrim getting seriously injured back in 2014 while working on Season 5’s episode Hardhome.

In the 30-second footage, Pilgrim is seen on a massive 16-foot wooden wall that tips forward suddenly and crashes to the ground. He ends up with a broken ankle. The wall was supposed to be lowered gently using a crane during filming, just like it had been during rehearsal.

But according to Pilgrim, that’s not what happened on the actual shoot day. He said the wall dropped in an “uncontrolled and ungoverned fashion,” which caused it to bounce and badly injure him. More people were involved during the actual shoot compared to rehearsal, and they were placed higher up on the wall.

The cables that were meant to help control the wall’s fall were visible in the video, but they appeared slack and weren’t doing anything. The stunt was part of a scene where the Night King’s undead army charges forward. Pilgrim was playing one of the dead.

Pilgrim filed a lawsuit four years later in 2019 against Fire & Blood Productions, the HBO unit behind Game of Thrones. According to his lawyer, he settled for £500,000 (about $686,000). Pilgrim hasn’t commented publicly about the matter, but his story shares a lot of similarities with another serious stunt accident that happened in 2018 during Season 8.

That second accident involved Casey Michaels, a stuntwoman who shattered her ankle after dropping from a 12-foot ledge onto a landing rig made out of cardboard boxes. She says the design of the stunt was changed between rehearsals and the actual shoot, including the number of people involved and the materials used for the landing. Michaels later received a huge payout of £7 million (about $9.6 million), which she talked about in an interview with Deadline.

In both cases, the stunt coordinator was Rowley Irlam. He still works for HBO, now on the House of the Dragon series. Irlam strongly denies any wrongdoing. About Pilgrim’s case, he said in a statement: “The unfortunate incident involving Mr Pilgrim took place 11 years ago. The matter was resolved between Mr Pilgrim and the production company and there were no rulings or findings of fault against me personally.” He also said Pilgrim kept working with him for two more seasons after the injury and added: “The accusations you put forward are simply untrue and unfounded.”

Irlam says he’s worked safely on more than 150 productions in over 20 years and only had two major injuries under his watch. “We put great care into designing stunt sequences with safety as the top priority. In the rare instances when an injury does occur, it is deeply upsetting for everyone involved,” he said.

Still, Deadline found a third incident involving Irlam, this time during the filming of Captain America: The First Avenger in 2010. In that case, two stunt performers said they were hurt. One even claimed they were knocked unconscious.

HBO is standing by Irlam. In a statement, a spokesperson said: “We take these matters very seriously. Mr. Irlam is a celebrated and respected stunt coordinator and has an extensive history with HBO productions.” They added: “We remain confident in his abilities and know he has always done everything possible to maintain the high safety standards that are required on our productions.”

The injury that happened to Pilgrim was reported to Northern Ireland’s workplace safety authority, the Health and Safety Executive Northern Ireland (HSENI). But no formal investigation happened. HSENI said it focuses mostly on the most serious workplace injuries, like deaths. In Casey Michaels’ case, there’s confusion about whether the 2018 incident was reported at all. HBO says someone on the safety team did call it in, but HSENI says it has no record of it.

Wayne Michaels, Casey’s father and a veteran stuntman who once doubled for James Bond, said he believes there’s a bigger issue going on. “One can see a disturbing pattern of behaviour and repeated systemic failings that would not be tolerated in any other industry,” he said. He also pointed to a culture of silence in the stunt world, where performers are afraid to speak up for fear of being blacklisted or losing jobs. “It is not uncommon for stunt coordinators to deny responsibility for accidents and injuries despite the injured performer having reported to and received instructions from them,” he added.

The leaked video and these new reports have caused concern within the stunt community. Some say that injuries are too often brushed under the rug and that speaking out is seen as weakness.

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