Very sad news to wake up to this morning, as Heroes and Scream star Hayden Panettiere has passed away at the age of just 36, according to reports in several outlets including The Hollywood Reporter.
This feels especially tragic because 36 is a terribly young age, because Panettiere leaves behind a young daughter, and because Panettiere comes from a television age that was quite foundational in creating the entertainment landscape as we know it today.
The show that brought her huge attention was Heroes, and that was part of the new landscape of TV shows in the early-to-mid-2000s that, alongside other shows like Lost, started to make TV have the same profile as movies. Suddenly these shows were appointment TV, driving watercooler conversations. This was just before the massive explosion of streaming and platforms. Arguably, they paved the way for executives to really start backing television financially, with huge budgets, big casts, and top-tier VFX.
There is almost a straight line thru modern television history from shows like Heroes and Lost to things like Game Of Thrones, and then underpinning the entire streaming content revolution.
Panettiere also holds a special place in the lore of Last Movie Outpost and the wider online movie community, after the famous (infamous) Harry Knowles post from the long-since-irrelevant Ain’t It Cool News which was in spectacular bad taste even at the time, and then proved to be downright disturbing once accusations about Knowles’ alleged conduct exploded onto the internet and, almost directly, led to the creation of this very website.
Panettiere’s representative has issued a statement:
“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.”
Details about the cause of death are unknown at this time. Earlier this year Panettiere released a warts-and-all memoir which covered her life as a child star, battles with addiction, postpartum depression and the more unsavoury side of Hollywood.
Panettiere was born in Palisades, New York in August 1989. After some child roles in soap opera, she had roles in movies including A Bug’s Life, The Object of My Affection, Dinosaur, Message in a Bottle, Remember the Titans, Ice Princess, and Bring It On: All or Nothing.
On TV she scored recurring roles on Ally McBeal and Malcolm in the Middle, but her massive breakthrough role was cheerleader Claire Bennet in Heroes on NBC.
She then went on to star in I Love You, Beth Cooper, Hoodwinked Too! Hood vs. Evil, and played the notorious Amanda Knox. She also had the lead role in Nashville.
Panettiere is survived by her daughter, Kaya.
