Tim Kring, the creator and showrunner of the hit NBC show Heroes, is remembering cast member Hayden Panettiere after her death at 36.
In an essay published by Variety on Tuesday, August 18, Kring wrote that the actress was “a seasoned professional” when she auditioned for the role of teen cheerleader Claire Bennet, but “unlike many actors who start working as kids, Hayden had no sense of jaded child actor quality to her.”
Kring said, “It was a fait accompli that she would embody the role of Claire Bennet, aka the Cheerleader, from the moment we met her.”
Panettiere played Claire on all four seasons of Heroes from 2006 to 2010 and was one of the show’s breakout stars. (She did not appear in the short-lived 2015 reboot Heroes Reborn.)
Behind the scenes, however, “Hayden was a true team player, which was important for a show with a large ensemble cast,” Kring wrote. “She was levelheaded beyond her years as a person and singularly talented as an actor, with an almost savant-like quality about her work.”
“I remember vividly that if a scene called for Hayden to cry, we would all marvel at how she could cry with intensity for 12 takes in a row,” he reminisced. “When the director yelled ‘Cut,’ she’d go back to texting her friends or laughing with her castmates right up until the moment the director called ‘Action’ for the next take. Then out would come the waterworks again.”
As well as her work ethic, Kring said he will “remember her as a kind and gentle person who was always a joy and an inspiration to work with.”
Panettiere died on Sunday, August 16, in Greenville, South Carolina.
“It is with profound sadness that we share the tragic passing of our beloved Hayden. She was an incredible light and a force of nature who brought immeasurable love and joy to all who knew her — and to the millions who watched her onscreen,” her father, Skip Panettiere, said in a statement to Us. “We ask for privacy as our family takes time to process this unimaginable loss.”
“On August 16, 2026, at approximately 1:51 PM, a 911 call was received regarding a reported cardiac arrest,” the Greenville County Coroner’s Office said in a statement on Monday, August 17. “First responders and Emergency Medical Services arrived on scene and located a female in cardiac arrest. EMS personnel initiated advanced cardiac life support measures; however, resuscitation efforts were unsuccessful, and the individual was pronounced deceased at 2:32 PM.”
“At autopsy, no signs of trauma were discovered that would have contributed to the death,” the coroner’s office said.
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