What The Final Year Of Grant Imahara's Life Was Really Like

When Grant Imahara joined the entertaining and informative reality show "MythBusters" in 2005, he was already an esteemed figure in popular science. A mechanical engineer and special effects expert, he'd worked for George Lucas' Industrial Light and Magic studio and helped bring futuristic spectacles like "Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines," "The Lost World: Jurassic Park," and the "Star Wars" prequels to the big screen. He'd also figured prominently in the untold truth of "BattleBots," serving as a fighting robot builder and operator as well as a referee and judge on the Comedy Central franchise. And after more than a decade helping demystify and decode lore and science on "MythBusters," testing out some of the series' most dangerous myths, he did the same on the similar "White Rabbit Project" for Netflix.

In the months leading up to his sudden and shocking death, Imahara worked on a variety of projects in his beloved field of engineering as well as in the medium that embraced and popularized his work, television. Here's what the last year of the life of Grant Imahara looked like.

In 2017, Walt Disney Imagineering, the research and development wing of the global entertainment giant's theme park sector, hired Grant Imahara as a consultant. He quietly worked on the development of something referred to at the time as "Stickman — Towards a Human Scale Acrobatic Robot." Imahara spent much of the next three calendar years hard at work on the advanced project, revealing only in January 2020 the exact nature of Stickman: an animatronic Spider-Man intended to web-sling, soar, and jump around structures high above visitors at Disney's California Adventure theme park.

The machine had "NO STRINGS," as Imahara proclaimed on X, formerly known as Twitter. It was a fully costumed Spider-Man stunt double that performed impressive airborne stunts 65 feet off the ground — and it was all a sophisticated robot that moved and looked almost exactly like a human being. Later branded a "Stuntronic," Imahara's co-creation finally debuted at California Adventure's Avengers Campus in 2021 and was appearing regularly in multiple shows a day by 2024.

For most of early 2020, Grant Imahara wasn't as active on social media as he often was — because he was just too busy. While working as a consultant for Disney, the engineer designed and built an animatronic version of Grogu, or Baby Yoda, the diminutive fan-favorite character introduced in the 2019 Disney+ series "The Mandalorian." After a long time of toiling on the project, Imahara unveiled a working model of the robotic creation on his social media channels in March 2020.

"It's been three months of hard work and countless revisions. ... I did all the mechanical design, programming, and 3D printed the molds," Imahara explained on Facebook. "He's currently running a continuous sequence, but soon I'll be able to trigger specific moods and reactions, as well as incorporate sound." Imahara relied on artists Lauren Markland and Lindsay Hamilton for the project's skin, hair, and clothing, and Project 842 for digital modeling.

"I knew I had to make my own Baby Yoda," Imahara told CNET. "And it could be a character I could bring to children's hospitals for charity work, which is something I've been committed to doing." The incredibly life-like, real-world version of Baby Yoda would eventually fulfill its builder's purpose and visit hospitalized kids, but only after delays from the COVID-19 pandemic, and after Imahara's death.

In what would turn out to be the final years of his life, Grant Imahara made a lot of television. After getting comfortable in front of the camera making and using gadgets, equipment, and complicated machinery on "BattleBots," "MythBusters," and "White Rabbit Project," Imahara gave acting a try, portraying Sulu in the fan-made "Star Trek Continues" and World War II-era Japanese American activist Frank Inouye on "Drunk History." In 2019, he got back to just being himself — Imahara was a guest on an episode of "Family Style," a food show celebrating Asian cuisine and Asian American culture, and for Mouser Electronics, he interviewed cutting edge and next-level scientists on the web series "Engineering Big Ideas." 

The final small-screen series in which Imahara would participate was the SyFy late night variety and home shopping show "SyFy Wire After Dark." Just before his death, he taped his correspondent sequence — about maximizing summer fun. The special aired with a pre-show dedication to Imahara.

In the summer of 2020, Grant Imahara complained of severe headaches over the course of several days. While eating dinner with his fiancee, costume designer Jenny Newman, at a Los Angeles home one evening in July, one headache came on so strong and suddenly that Imahara experienced dizziness, extremity numbness, and pain in his back and neck. He quickly became unconscious, and Newman called paramedics. After his arrival at a nearby hospital, doctors diagnosed a brain aneurysm and operated on the scientist. While the first surgery was deemed successful, Imahara remained unresponsive, and his status was downgraded to critical after a second brain procedure. While preparing Imahara for a third operation, doctors realized that the aneurysm had caused insurmountable brain damage, and he was removed from life support. On July 13, 2020, one of the most tragic things to ever happen to the cast of "MythBusters" occurred, as Imahara died at the age of 49.

Tributes from Imahara's friends and colleagues quickly hit the media. "Grant was a truly brilliant engineer, artist and performer, but also just such a generous, easygoing, and gentle PERSON. Working with Grant was so much fun. I'll miss my friend," "MythBusters" host Adam Savage wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter. "We are heartbroken to hear this sad news about Grant," "MythBusters" airer Discovery Channel said via a statement to the AP (via PBS). "He was an important part of our Discovery family and a really wonderful man."