Spiers suffered a negative reaction to an anti-malariamedication that left him gravely ill. He could not do the dubbing for Taxandria so another actor was used in his place. He never recovered, and died aged 20 on 15 January at the Royal Free Hospital, prior to Taxandria's release. The film was dedicated to his memory and released eight months after his death at a screening in October 1994 in the Flanders Film Festival.