In a rather unusual turn of events, the cause of death for beloved actor Lance Reddick was determined by a coroner, but the family and family attorney have disputed the finding. Per Deadline and TMZ, the Lance Reddick death certificate lists the cause of death as “Ischemic Heart Disease” and “Atherosclerotic Coronary Artery Disease,” or in other words — heart disease. However, his family deems this implausible since it does not align with the exceptionally healthy life the actor had been living.
“The information appearing on the death certificate is wholly inconsistent with his lifestyle,” said family attorney James Hornstein in a statement. “On behalf of [Lance’s wife] Stephanie Reddick, the death certificate information is not corroborated and is inconsistent with the facts known to the family.” Hornstein added anecdotally that Reddick was “the most physically fit person I’ve ever known,” and the actor even had a stipulation in his contracts that gym facilities be made available to him when working away from home. The family does not believe the autopsy could have reasonably demonstrated heart disease was the cause of death for Reddick.
To be clear, while this is a peculiar discrepancy, nobody is suddenly claiming foul play or jumping to any extreme conclusions. This is just another unfortunate episode in a tragic story, and it is not known if Reddick’s family intends to take further action on the matter.
On the bright side, fans and the companies that worked with him have taken to honoring Lance Reddick in various ways, especially with Commander Zavala in Destiny 2. Choosing how to honor a character after their actor has passed away is tricky, but people have been heartfelt across the board in their treatments of Reddick.
