Ten days after Hayden Panettiere’s unexpected death, the cast of the television series “Heroes” met again on Tuesday to pay an emotional tribute to the actress, who died on August 16 at the age of 36 in Greenville, South Carolina, from a presumed overdose.
The meeting, driven to celebrate his life and memory, was documented by fiction writer and executive coproducer Bryan Fuller, who shared postcards from the meeting on his Instagram account. “A reunion of Heroes to celebrate the life of the young woman who was number one in the script and number one in our hearts and memories. We share stories of Hayden’s light that shone in all of our lives,” he wrote.
The event featured the presence of several central figures in the NBC production that was broadcast since 2006. Among the attendees were Jack Coleman — who portrayed the young woman’s father on the screen and acted as the host of the evening — Masi Oka, Greg Grunberg, Santiago Cabrera, Adrian Pasdar, Jimmy Jean-Louis and Madeline Zima. Actors such as Zachary Quinto (Sylar) and Sendhil Ramamurthy joined the commemoration virtually through video calls.
During the evening, the showings of affection did not wait. Jimmy Jean-Louis shared photos of the event highlighting the deep emotional load of the tribute: “There was sadness in our hearts, but also a lot of love, gratitude and warmth in remembering the moments shared and the impact of a life that touched so many.”
Panettiere achieved international fame thanks to her performance of Claire Bennet, the pornist with accelerated cell regeneration faculties who popularized the recalled phrase “Save the pornist, save the world”.
In life, the artist had recognized that the series’ recording set represented a fundamental pillar in her youth, ensuring that her peers and the pace of work kept her firm in complex stages of her life.
For her part, the creator of the series, Tim Kring, recalled the star in a column for Variety qualifying her as a unique talented actress and assuring that from her first hearing it was evident that the role was intended for her.
