‘Walking Dead’ Cancels Comic-Con Press Events Following Stuntman’s John Bernecker Death
With its prestigious 100th episode on the way, it’s a big year for “The Walking Dead” at San Diego Comic-Con, but the recent tragedy in “The Walking Dead” family is all anyone is thinking about right now.
In the wake of stuntman John Bernecker’s death, “The Walking Dead” is cancelling all Comic-Con press events according to Entertainment Tonight. The cast will now only participate in a panel and autograph sessions.
The 33-year old stuntman died earlier this month after sustaining injuries from falling off of a balcony in a stunt that went wrong. Following the accident, there was an outpouring of love and sorrow from Bernecker’s “Walking Dead” coworkers. Ahead of the Comic-Con panel, AMC released the premiere date for “The Walking Dead” Season 8 (Oct. 22) along with some art for the new season.
Bernecker reportedly suffered head injuries after falling over 20 feet onto a concrete floor and had to be airlifted to a nearby hospital. Prior to the news of his death AMC released a statement: “We are saddened to report that John Bernecker, a talented stuntman for “The Walking Dead” and numerous other television shows and films, suffered serious injuries from a tragic accident on set. “He was immediately transported to an Atlanta hospital and we have temporarily shut down production. We are keeping John and his family in our thoughts and prayers.” “We have been informed of a serious injury to a SAG-AFTRA member on the set of The Walking Dead and are investigating the situation,” a union spokesperson also said. “As always, the safety and security of our members and others on set is of crucial concern to us, and we are focused on this in our investigation. Our thoughts and prayers are with the performer and his family.” Bernecker had a prolific career as a stuntman, which included working on films such as Fate of the Furious, This Is The End, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2, Get Out, Logan, as well as the upcoming Marvel movie, Black Panther. Additionally, Bernecker’s IMDbpage had him listed as performing stunt work on Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson’s upcoming movie, Rampage, which is still in production.
Unfortunately, Death And Injuries Come With The Territory Of Being A Movie Stunt Person
Susan Z’ Conclusion:
As most stuntman are adrenaline junkies but incredibly well trained and skilled at what they do, it is unfortunate when an unforeseen mishap brings death or injury. I do not think the investigation will find any wrongdoing but an error in judgement. My sense is that if choosing a way to check out, this would have been Bernecker’s, doing what he loved. As in all life journeys, nothing is by accident and I am sure his death had a domino effect on everyone involved with the “Walking Dead”.
The Star:
This is everything working out ok. It seems this would be an unusual card to pull in the event of a death but in the bigger picture of life, the soul sees death as just “going home” and a time for rejoicing. We design our life journey and choose the death window we will go through at the right time, so in life there are no accidents.
Three of Pentacles:
This is a sign of future success. I feel this card was pulled in connection with Bernecker’s successful career and the on-going success of the series he was working in at the time of his death.
King of Swords: Inverted (Upside Down)
This is disruptive energy and bringing chaos. Since being a stuntman is always about taking risks, being pulled inverted shows of course, an unexpected outcome to the event.
Susan Z Rich is an emotional addiction counselor, spiritual intuitive and holistic therapist. She counsels others to see life in a more positive way and teaches personal accountability for life choices. She is also the author of several children’s books and Soul Windows…Secrets From The Divine.