TLDR: Deadliest Catch has followed Bering Sea crab fishermen since 2005, and Season 22 premiered on May 8, 2026 with the fleet moving to St. George Island. Sig Hansen turned 60 and still captains the Northwestern, Jake Anderson is going through a divorce, and deckhand Todd Meadows died after falling overboard in February 2026.
Crab fishing in the Bering Sea is one of the most dangerous jobs in America, and Deadliest Catch has never let viewers forget it. Over two decades the cast has aged, lost people and changed boats.
Here is where the main faces stand today, with links to our full profiles. The show’s losses are collected in our guide to who died on Deadliest Catch.
Season 22 Moved the Fleet 225 Miles
Season 22 premiered on May 8, 2026, on Discovery Channel and airs Fridays at 8 p.m. ET. The fleet relocated to St. George Island, about 225 miles from its usual grounds, to chase a new population of red king crab, according to Showbiz Junkies.
Wild Bill Wichrowski traveled there to advise Sig Hansen on the unfamiliar water. The season also opened with a tribute to a crewman the fleet lost in February.
Sig Hansen, Captain of the Northwestern
Sig Hansen turned 60 in April 2026 and told People in June that he does not see himself retiring anytime soon. A year earlier he had said he expected to fish only a few more years, and he admitted that staying on is partly ego.
His health has been part of the story for a decade. He had a heart attack while filming in 2016, and a local paper reported a second, slight one in October 2018 after an allergic reaction to an antibiotic.
He also walked away from the show for about a month in 2010 over a dispute with Discovery about Season 7, then returned. In Season 21 he teamed up with Johnathan Hillstrand on the Time Bandit to search the waters off Adak Island for a rumored giant red king crab.
In Season 22 he ran a scouting mission with an underwater drone, which the network called a series first. His daughter Mandy Hansen is a captain in her own right, and Sig has said he wants her to take on more responsibility once family obligations allow.
He has also praised his son-in-law Clark Pederson as ready for more work. Our profile of what happened to Sig Hansen covers the retirement question and his family.
Edgar Hansen, Gone Since 2018
Sig’s brother Edgar worked the Northwestern’s deck for close to three decades and occasionally captained the boat during blue king crab and bairdi seasons. He was last seen on screen in August 2018.
He pleaded guilty to a sexual assault charge involving a 16-year-old girl in Sarasota, Florida, and received a 364-day suspended sentence and $1,653 in fines and fees. The network has not commented on his absence, and the full account is in our piece on what happened to Edgar Hansen.
Jake Anderson, Back in the Captain’s Chair
Jake Anderson joined the show in 2007 as a greenhorn on the Northwestern and worked his way up to deckhand, deck boss and captain. His father, Gary Anderson, went missing in 2010, and Jake has talked openly on the show about that loss and his own past struggles with addiction.
On the Season 22 premiere he confirmed his divorce from Jenna after 17 years together and 13 years of marriage. He blamed the split mostly on being away fishing too much.
His lawyer then told him to stop putting money into his stake in the Titan Explorer, since the boat could be divided in the divorce. Jake worked as a deckhand on Rick Shelford’s Aleutian Lady, a job he had not done in 11 years, while his own boat the Cornelia Marie had generator repairs.
Once those repairs were done he took the captain’s seat again. We follow the money, the marriage and the boat in our piece on Jake Anderson’s divorce.
Todd Meadows and the Aleutian Lady
Todd Meadows, a 25-year-old deckhand and the newest member of the Aleutian Lady crew, fell overboard on February 25, 2026. He was sitting in a crab pot in the ship’s launcher when it went over the rail, and the Bering Sea was only a degree or two above freezing.
He died of drowning and accidental hypothermia. The cameras were running, Discovery confirmed the footage exists, and the network will not air it.
Captain Rick Shelford paused production, flew the crew home briefly and then returned to finish the season. On March 2 he wrote that Meadows’ laughter coming up the wheelhouse stairs is something the crew would carry with them.
The Season 22 premiere opened with footage Meadows filmed in the weeks before he died, talking about his dream of fishing in Alaska. Our tribute to Todd Meadows has the full story.
Phil Harris and His Sons
Captain Phil Harris of the Cornelia Marie suffered a stroke on January 29, 2010, while the boat was offloading at Saint Paul Island. He died on February 9, 2010, at age 53, and he had demanded that the crews keep filming through his final days.
The tribute episode drew 5.4 million viewers. His sons Josh and Jake worked on the boat with him and went separate ways afterward, and what became of Jake is in our look at Jake Harris and his net worth.
The Time Bandit
The Hillstrand brothers’ Time Bandit vanished from the fleet in 2018 after its main engine blew up before the king crab season. Johnathan Hillstrand wrote that it was his first missed king crab season in 38 years.
The boat was repaired and came back, and in Season 21 Hillstrand shared the wheelhouse with Sig Hansen. Our Time Bandit update has the details.
Why the Cast Keeps Changing
Crab fishing kills people, and the show is built on that fact. Ten cast and crew members have died since 2005, three of them during production at sea.
Others left for legal trouble, addiction, injury or exhaustion, and new captains and greenhorns arrive every year. That turnover is why a cast list from five years ago is out of date, and why we keep a running page on every death on the show.
Deadliest Catch Cast: Frequently Asked Questions
Is Sig Hansen retiring from Deadliest Catch?
Not yet. In a June 2026 interview Sig Hansen said he does not see himself retiring anytime soon, though in 2025 he had said he expected to fish only a few more years.
What happened to Edgar Hansen on Deadliest Catch?
Edgar Hansen was last on screen in August 2018. He pleaded guilty to a sexual assault charge involving a 16-year-old girl in Florida and has not returned to the show.
Who died on Deadliest Catch in 2026?
Todd Meadows, a 25-year-old deckhand on the Aleutian Lady, died on February 25, 2026, after falling overboard in the Bering Sea. Discovery will not broadcast the footage.
When did Deadliest Catch Season 22 premiere?
Season 22 premiered on May 8, 2026, on Discovery Channel, with the fleet relocating to St. George Island.
Is Jake Anderson still a captain?
He worked as a deckhand on the Aleutian Lady early in Season 22 while the Cornelia Marie was being repaired and his Titan Explorer stake was tied up by his divorce. He took the captain’s seat again once the Cornelia Marie was ready.
