Oliver Stark broke his ankle in late August while performing a stunt on 9-1-1, then required surgery before returning to work. The injury landed inside a stretch of four stunt-related mishaps on Season 10, a run that has put production safety protocols back under scrutiny.
Late August and the stunt setup
The stunt involved a firefighter swinging from a car over a set piece to the ladder truck. Stark’s injury came first, and production kept moving after it, which is part of why the episode has drawn attention beyond one performer’s recovery.
During rehearsals for the same stunt, a stunt double sprained an ankle and declined medical treatment, and no injury report was submitted after that decision. In a stunt environment, that sequence matters because the rehearsal phase is where equipment, timing, and landing zones are supposed to get stress-tested before the camera rolls.
Season 10 safety pressure
A stunt person later injured an arm on jagged metal built into a piece of the set and needed a hospital visit and stitches. Within the last two weeks, another stunt performer was sent to the hospital after an awkward landing on a platform designed to simulate a ground collapse; that trip was precautionary, but the landing left a broken rib and minor compressed lung.
The incidents do not appear to be linked, yet four stunt-related injuries in recent months on the same series still leave safety procedures under a harder spotlight. For a stunt-heavy broadcast show, the practical issue is not one injury in isolation; it is whether rehearsals, inspections, and set preparation are catching enough before performers step into the shot.
ABC, Disney, and safety rules
All SAG-AFTRA signatories, including Disney, are required to follow on-set safety protocols, and stunt performers and coordinators must complete a general safety and injury prevention program to stay eligible for union work. Contract Services’ latest stunt safety bulletin says production management must allow enough time for rehearsals, training, equipment preparations, and inspections.
The same bulletin assigns the stunt coordinator the lead on stunt-related preparation, from script review and planning to site selection, testing, rehearsal, modification, and recommendation of qualified personnel and equipment. It also puts the first assistant director in charge of holding an on-set safety meeting, which is where the show’s next round of accountability starts: with the process, not the publicity around it.
Stark has since returned to work, but the broken ankle still sits at the center of the bigger question facing Season 10. The injury sequence shows how quickly a single stunt can move from rehearsal to hospital to surgery, and it leaves the production with a simple test: whether the next complex setup gets more time, more inspection, and fewer chances to go wrong.
