The deckhand died at 25 on Feb. 25 after an accident on board the Aleutian Lady.

Deadliest Catch reveals how season 22 will address Todd Meadows’ death

The deckhand died at 25 on Feb. 25 after an accident on board the Aleutian Lady.

By Wesley Stenzel

Wesley Stenzel

Wesley Stenzel is a news writer at **. He began writing for EW in 2022.

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April 23, 2026 2:00 p.m. ET

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Todd Meadows/Facebook

- *Deadliest Catch* will pay tribute to late deckhand Todd Meadows in its season 22 premiere.

- The show will not broadcast the footage of Meadows' death.

- *Deadliest Catch* returns on May 8 on Discovery Channel.

*Deadliest Catch* is going to pay tribute to its late deckhand Todd Meadows.

Discovery Channel announced that season 22 of the crab fishing series will premiere on Friday, May 8, and shared how the show will acknowledge Meadows, who died Feb. 25 at age 25 during an accident while working on the Aleutian Lady.

** has learned that the premiere episode of season 22 will feature a tribute to Meadows that explores his death's impact on his crewmates. Meadows will then be shown throughout the season, as his contributions as a member of the crew were filmed in the weeks preceding the accident.

Additionally, EW has learned that *Deadliest Catch* was filming at the time of Meadows' death, but the incident will not be shown on the series out of respect for the deckhand's loved ones.

The official press release for season 22 states that "for the first time in decades, the captains abandon familiar fishing grounds to chase a rare breed of Red King Crab lurking in the frozen waters of the far North." The fleet will relocate 225 miles to St. George Island, Alaska.

The description also teases that Captain Sig Hansen will use "an underwater drone" in a "series first" during a "covert scouting mission" to track "a rare strain of king crab," and that Captain Wild Bill Wichrowski will help guide Hansen throughout the hunt.

Additionally, Captain Jake Anderson will begin the season as a deckhand "after losing both his boat and his marriage" before returning to the captain's chair in a restored version of the Cornelia Marie.

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News of Meadows' death broke in March after Captain Rick Shelford shared news of "the most tragic day in the history of the Aleutian Lady on the Bering Sea," adding that "the sound of his laughter coming up the wheelhouse stairs or over the deck hailer is something we will carry with us always."

Discovery responded to Meadows' death in a statement to EW at the time. "We are deeply saddened by the tragic passing of Todd Meadows," the network said. "This is a devastating loss, and our hearts are with his loved ones, his crewmates, and the entire fishing community during this incredibly difficult time."

The U.S. Coast Guard later shared details of the incident with EW. "On February 25, 2026, at 5:05 p.m. local Alaska time, Coast Guard watchstanders at the Arctic District command center in Juneau received notification from the fishing vessel Aleutian Lady, reporting that a crew member by the name of Todd Meadows fell overboard approximately 170 miles north of Dutch Harbor," a spokesperson said in a statement. "He was recovered unresponsive by the crew approximately ten minutes later. First aid and attempts to resuscitate were unsuccessful, and the crew transported the deceased to Dutch Harbor."

Later, Trey John Green III, who was working on the Aleutian Lady at the time of the incident, revealed that cameras were rolling on the ship when Meadows fell overboard.

"Todd was an amazing human," Green told *Us*, noting that Meadows "was doing a great job" on the day of his death and that he believed the accident was "none of Todd's fault."

'Deadliest Catch'.

Warner Bros./ Discovery

Green also said that the crew of the Aleutian Lady "did everything we could to save him" when the accident occurred, but that when you're "out at sea," it's "no easy task" to save an overboard crewmate.

Green later explained that after he fell into the water, Meadows successfully climbed into a life sling and was in the process of being rescued, "fell back into the water" when he was "almost back on the boat," forcing the crew to restart the rescue process.

"The second time we went to go lift him up, Todd was just — he was lifeless," Green said. "He didn't have any more — like I said, the first time, he was fighting, trying to get onto the sling. And then the second time, he was just — he was lifeless."

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Green said that Meadows turned blue after three or four minutes in the water, and that the crew immediately began administering CPR when he was back on board. "We finally brought him inside and continued CPR," he said. "The boat has an AED [machine] … it's basically a defibrillator. And we tried to use that, too, and it just — nothing was working. And finally, finally, after a half hour, 45 minutes of trying to save him, Captain came down and said, 'Guys, it's not gonna work.'"

*Deadliest Catch* will pay tribute to Meadows when the show returns with its season 22 premiere on May 8 at 8 p.m. ET/PT on Discovery Channel.

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