‘Game Of Thrones’ Stuntwoman Signs $9.4M HBO Settlement After Injury

EXCLUSIVE: Casey Michaels has been a gifted athlete for as long as she can remember. Horse riding and racing down ski slopes by the age of five, her list of sporting skills reads like the vacation of a lifetime, if throwing yourself out of a plane or exploring the ocean with an oxygen tank is your thing. It was little surprise then, aged just 14, Michaels followed her parents and grandparents into the stunt profession, taking a job on Damian Lewis film Friends and Crocodiles. 

Michaels was forecast to break into the top 0.5% of stunt performers, such was her talent. Had she fulfilled this destiny, she would have featured in blockbuster action sequences that, from 2027, will qualify for Oscar contention. It all lay ahead of Michaels until she suffered a cruel, career-ending injury in February 2018 when she was 27.

Michaels was working on the final season of Game of Thrones when she shattered her left ankle performing a stunt she argues was not designed competently by the coordinators on-set. Michaels sued a Warner Bros. Discovery subsidiary for £4M ($5.3M) in 2021, claiming she had been robbed of a promising career. Deadline can reveal that HBO paid her £7M ($9.3M), including legal costs, as part of a settlement in 2023, with the company’s lawyers apologizing.

Michaels has not spoken publicly about the incident, but has given an interview to Deadline because she believes her experience exposes everything that’s wrong with her profession. Michaels accepts that the job is inherently dangerous, but in speaking out, she wishes to confront the stunt community’s propensity to “brush injuries under the carpet” and blame the performer.

Rowley Irlam, the stunt coordinator in charge when she suffered her injury, continues to deny responsibility for the accident, despite HBO admitting liability in the settlement of the lawsuit, which did not name Irlam as a defendant. Michaels worries that his unwillingness to acknowledge that mistakes were made means similar errors could be repeated. Deadline is aware of at least two other accidents on Irlam’s watch that predate Michaels’ injury, including a similar incident on an earlier season of Game of Thrones. 

Michaels and her family say that the absence of an industry-recognized professional stunt body in the UK means Irlam’s competency as a coordinator has not been subject to independent scrutiny. He belongs to the British Stunt Register (BSR), but the body does not have the power to investigate members or log accidents. Deadline has seen an email from a top UK safety official warning that the stunt profession could be “sleepwalking” towards an on-set fatality because of the scattered nature of how it is organized.

Michaels’ concerns extend beyond safety. Actors’ union Equity and the BSR have advised stunt coordinators not to accept gifts from stunt performers they have the power to employ. Deadline can reveal that Irlam went against this advice, and likely flouted his HBO deal, by accepting an Audemars Piguet watch on the final season of Game of Thrones, paid for by his team of performers. He now admits it was an error of judgment.

Irlam, who won four Emmys for his work on Game of Thrones, including one for the final season, has remained involved in the HBO franchise and is overseeing stunts on Season 3 of prequel series House of the Dragon, currently shooting in the UK. HBO says it is “saddened” by Michaels’ adversity, but stands by Irlam and defended his record, saying he has “always done everything possible” to maintain high safety standards. Irlam says that he has managed “hundreds of complex stunt sequences” during his 20-year career and safety is his top priority. He adds that Michaels’ accident was “unfortunate,” but there were “no rulings or findings of fault against me personally.”

Casey’s Accident

In David Benioff and D.B. Weiss’ Game of Thrones, based on George R. R. Martin’s novels, Bran Stark is synonymous with scaling the walls of Winterfell before he is pushed out of a window by Jaime Lannister and loses the use of his legs. There are echoes of Martin’s prose in Michaels’ own experience. Seven years after stepping off a Winterfell ledge, she still suffers from chronic pain and has lost mobility.

Michaels, 35, was playing a foot soldier in the White Walkers’ army of the dead during a climactic battle sequence in The Long Night, the pivotal third episode in Season 8. HBO, via its UK production unit Fire & Blood Productions, was capturing the scene on a rainy winter night shoot in Belfast.

Michaels and a group of other performers were asked to drop approximately 12 feet into a landing rig of cardboard boxes and crash mats, a commonly used setup to cushion the fall of stunt pros. Michaels did not rehearse the scene and only discovered what was expected on the castle wall. She was later told that there was a daylight rehearsal, but it only involved 10 performers, rather than the total of 27 who participated in the stunt during the night shoot.

The first take went without incident. Under the direction of Miguel Sapochnik, the Wights marauded through Winterfell, dropping into the castle grounds ready to do battle with the combined armies of Westeros. As the synthetic snow swirled, visibility was poor. Michaels was also wearing heavy prosthetic make-up on her face, preventing her from looking down without moving her head. One of the last of 27 performers to drop from the roof, Michaels recalls tilting her head to spot her landing before safely hitting the box-rig. 

Michaels was injured on the second take after adjustments were made to the stunt. Gathered back on the castle wall, she recalls Irlam, the stunt coordinator, telling performers via a walkie-talkie that they were not allowed to spot their landings because they were zombies. Michaels alleges that Irlam said he would “call anyone out” who looked down, which she interpreted as a threat to humiliate those who failed to carry out his instructions. Michaels also recalls Irlam telling performers to “drop like a pencil,” which she corroborated with written testimony from three other individuals present on the night. In a High Court defense document filed by HBO, Irlam denied issuing the pencil instruction.

Michaels later learned of an allegation that changes were made to the landing rig between takes. In written testimony provided to Michaels, an assistant stunt coordinator said thick crash mats were swapped for thinner alternatives, while two other performers recalled that the landing rig felt less secure on the second take. Michaels alleges that changes were made to increase dramatic effect and that the switch was not communicated to the performers. In its legal filing, HBO denied that “thin” mats were used in the stunt.

As she walked off the ledge for the second take, Michaels claims that she fell blind into a landing rig that had been changed without warning. Michaels was the last performer to step off the ledge. Twenty-six others fell before her, meaning the adapted rig had been impacted repeatedly before she dropped. In video footage of the incident shared with Deadline (watch below), Irlam can be heard shouting “go go go — walk off the edge” at his stunt performers, many of whom fall with their legs straightened and together, despite his denial that they were asked to drop like a pencil.

Michaels did not feel anything break her fall, so she plummeted with all her weight on her left ankle. “I hit the floor and heard my bones breaking underneath me,” she remembers. Michaels’ pain was so unbearable that when medics had to remove her boot to examine her ankle, it felt like they were pulling off her foot.

In a court statement, HBO initially claimed that Michaels’ “own negligence” was the reason for the accident, arguing that she failed to “exercise the skill and care of a reasonably competent stunt performer.” Wayne Michaels, Casey’s father, says this was an “appalling attempt to publicly humiliate and punish” his daughter.

Michaels’ position is that the landing rig was inadequate for the stunt, and it was compromised by the performers who fell before her. She adds that the alleged instruction to fall like a pencil concentrated all the weight on her ankle with catastrophic consequences. She says another stuntman suffered an injury during the same take and was also taken to hospital. The Fire & Blood Productions incident report acknowledged that “larger rigs” were needed for similar stunts in the future.

In statements supporting her case, nine other stunt experts independently corroborated Michaels’ conclusion that the landing rig was unsuitable, including Simon Crane, a vastly experienced stuntman known for James Bond and Cliffhanger. “With multiple people going into the same space, the box rig is designed to crush, so it isn’t there anymore,” Crane tells Deadline. “When you’ve got 20-odd people jumping, you would have been better off with having no rig whatsoever, because at least everyone would have known they were landing on the floor.”

Wade Eastwood, the mastermind behind Tom Cruise’s audacious Mission: Impossible stunts, was engaged by HBO to write an expert report on the incident as part of its defense against Michaels’ lawsuit. Deadline understands that he ultimately concluded that the landing rig wasn’t sufficient for the 27 people who performed the stunt. Eastwood was unable to comment on his findings, but tells Deadline it was an accident “that could have very easily been avoided if the correct procedures were in place for the number of performers.” HBO did not submit Eastwood’s report into the High Court legal proceedings.

HBO accepted primary liability, per legal letters seen by Deadline, but Irlam says this did not reflect any “admission of fault” on his part, despite the settlement pertaining to the stunt he designed and managed. Wayne Michaels says his daughter sued HBO, not Irlam, because it was legally responsible for her wellbeing. He thinks Irlam’s position is “untenable.” Irlam, despite previously having a good relationship with Michaels and her father, has never apologized for what happened.

In a statement issued by HBO, Irlam says: “As an experienced stunt coordinator of over 20 years, I have successfully and safely managed hundreds of complex stunt sequences across film and television. 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.

“The unfortunate incident involving Casey Michaels took place seven years ago. The matter was resolved between Casey Michaels and the production company a year and a half ago. I was not a party in the litigation, and I was not involved in the decision to settle the claim. The settlement between the parties to the litigation does not reflect any admission of fault on my part. There were no rulings or findings of fault against me personally.”

Other Accidents

Michaels is not the only performer to reach a settlement with HBO for an accident on a Game of Thrones episode that credits Irlam as stunt coordinator. In similar circumstances, Andy Pilgrim sued Fire & Blood Productions for £200,000 ($267,000) in 2019, claiming to have suffered a career-limiting ankle break after leaping through a collapsing wall as a zombie warrior on Season 5’s Hardhome. Like with Michaels, HBO initially blamed Pilgrim for the accident, but later settled for £500,000 ($669,000), according to the stunt pro’s barrister. Pilgrim, who continues to work, did not respond to requests for comment.

Two other stunt performers, who spoke to Deadline on the condition of anonymity, say they suffered injuries while working for Irlam on Captain America: The First Avenger in 2010. Irlam was engaged as an assistant stunt coordinator on the Marvel film and oversaw a sequence in which motorcyclists were chasing Chris Evans.

During the action, the stuntmen were required to perform a “dead man,” meaning they were ripped from their bikes by a line attached to a tree (see clip below). The two stunt performers allege that Irlam changed the nature of the sequence from what was rehearsed, nearly doubling the speed of the bikes and removing the bungee section of the line, meaning it absorbed less of the velocity.

One of the stuntmen claims he was knocked unconscious after hitting his head on a camera while performing the sequence. The second performer damaged his eyesight after carrying out the stunt on at least three occasions, per medical records. Both say they were uncomfortable with the changes made by Irlam and felt they had little choice but to obey his orders. The stuntmen could not recall any official record being made of the incident. “It was an accident, not a stunt,” one says. 

Irlam had no comment on the Captain America incident. Marvel Studios did not respond to a request for comment.

“Sleepwalking” On Safety

Wayne Michaels has been a fierce advocate for his daughter throughout the ordeal. Wayne, himself a distinguished stunt performer and coordinator, with credits including doubling for Pierce Brosnan as James Bond, argues Casey’s experience is symptomatic of deeper issues in the profession. He has been raising the alarm about safety standards for years, arguing that there is a lack of “adequate training, education, assessment, and qualifications” for stunt coordinators.

Many in the stunt community agree about the need for an industry-recognized professional trade body, but there is little consensus on how to achieve this. The British Stunt Register (BSR) was established in 2017, but does not enjoy the industry backing of the now-disbanded Joint Industry Stunt Committee. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE), the UK government-backed regulator, has warned about the fragmented nature of the stunt profession. In a 2022 email seen by Deadline, HSE inspector Karl Raw wrote that the industry was in danger of “sleepwalking” into a “serious, potentially fatal, incident.”

There is no accreditation system in the U.S. either, but most stunt performers are SAG-AFTRA members. The union has a “stunt coordinator eligibility process,” requiring coordinators to complete 500 working days on set. Chris O’Hara, The Fall Guy stunt designer who helped campaign for Oscar recognition, says this is a “step toward setting a baseline for experience,” but studios need to check if coordinators have hit this threshold. “It’s critical to research who you’re hiring. Does their experience match the action level of your project? A coordinator’s track record needs to align with the job’s demands,” he says.

Belonging to the BSR is not a requirement to work as a stunt professional in the UK, but some employers value membership. Wayne Michaels, who is not a BSR member, believes this is “dangerous” because producers assume that it “certifies a person’s professional competency when it does not.” He argues that his daughter’s injury exposes the inadequacies of the BSR because Irlam, a member of the register, has not been “investigated, sanctioned or retrained/requalified” following the incident.

Michaels alleges that “egotism and abusive behaviour” among BSR members has exacerbated safety issues, pointing to a 2014 survey by Equity, which revealed “grotesque” levels of bullying in the stunt community. The BSR refutes this allegation and says it is prepared to discipline members if they break its code of conduct.

In a statement to Deadline, the BSR’s committee says it is not responsible for industry safety, has no powers to investigate members over safety, and cannot compel performers to report accidents. The BSR says its training courses ensure a “high level of competence” and that members must demonstrate an up-to-date knowledge of health and safety laws, though its courses are not recognized by HSE. It adds that grades reflect the skills of a member and do not measure competency on an ongoing basis.

Michaels and Lee Sheward, a stunt pro with credits including Mission: Impossible, wrote a seven-page letter (full copy here) outlining their concerns about safety and the BSR, gathering support from 100 colleagues. The letter was sent to industry bodies, such as producer trade group Pact, as well as the likes of Netflix, the BBC, and Warner Bros. Discovery. Michaels and Sheward recently met with Equity assistant general secretary John Barclay to express their concerns. An Equity spokesperson says: “We are seeking meetings to take this further as a matter of urgency.”

Gifting Claims

Concerns about professional standards run deeper than safety. Two months after suffering her injury on the final season of Game of Thrones, Casey Michaels was one of 80 performers asked to contribute £300 towards a gift for Irlam for keeping the team safe. Although they were told the collection, which potentially raised £24,000, was voluntary and would “not impact any future employment,” Michaels believes the opposite is true. “Everybody knew there would be repercussions for not paying,” she says.

Michaels says the money was used to purchase Irlam an Audemars Piguet watch, thought to be worth more than £20,000. She claims that Irlam received other gifts, including a Hublot watch, for past seasons of Game of Thrones. 

Two years before Irlam received his watch, his union Equity issued guidance to stunt coordinators, warning them not to accept gifts that exceed £25 in value. Equity told coordinators that accepting expensive gifts from people they have the power to employ was “seriously out of kilter with sound practice in the modern workplace” and could put them in breach of their contract and even the law. Equity stands by this 2016 guidance. The BSR adds that it “actively discourages” gifting. The stunt register said it would “act on any evidence” on gifting, but has yet to respond to questions relating to Irlam.

Irlam was interviewed by Warner Bros. Discovery compliance executives after Deadline presented gifting evidence to HBO. Investigators acknowledge Irlam may have broken his employment agreement at the time, which stated that stunt coordinators would not receive any “financial advantage” other than their fee for employing stunt performers. Irlam admits he made a mistake. “The giving and receiving of the end-of-season gift reflected poor judgment,” he tells Deadline. HBO had no comment.

PTSD & Pain

Michaels was on crutches for nearly a year after her accident and had five operations over four years. To this day, the pain remains a constant presence in her life, which she manages with specially prescribed drugs, massage guns, and ice baths. She was treated for PTSD and had therapy to come to terms with being “stripped” of her career. “I was very agile and fast-moving. I would do multiple stunts, from fighting, to wire work, to landing high falls,” she says. “Now I’m very conscious of my ankle when I’m just walking on a cobbled street.”

Michaels, who now does office work for her parents’ company, acknowledges that injuries are an occupational hazard in the stunt profession, but she is angry that little appears to have changed following her experience on Game of Thrones. HBO declined to answer a series of questions about whether its stunt procedures have been improved since the accident. 

“I can forgive accidents. I can forgive mistakes. I cannot forgive lies,” Michaels says. “Two people went to hospital, and they [the Game of Thrones stunt coordinators] are still denying that they did anything wrong. Their egos are so great that they cannot put their hands up and say: ‘We understand this was wrong. We will correct this, we will do better, we will learn from our mistakes.”

An HBO spokeswoman says: “We are saddened to learn about the adversity Ms Michaels has experienced and take these matters very seriously. Mr Irlam is a celebrated and respected stunt coordinator and has an extensive history with HBO productions. As an expert in such a physically demanding field, 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.”

If you wish to contact the author of this article to supply further information or share your experience of working as a stunt professional, please email: jkanter@deadline.com