Heroes creator Tim Kring has reflected on casting the late Hayden Panettiere in her now-iconic role as superpowered cheerleader Claire Bennet on the NBC series.
“We did not look very far; we saw her, and that was it. First of all, she was an extraordinary actress,” Kring, 69, told Entertainment Weekly in an interview published on Friday, September 25, in honor of Heroes’ 20th anniversary. “[Hayden] just embodied that girl-next-door quality, and then her range was exceptional.”
Panettiere was an entertainment industry veteran by the time she landed a starring role in Heroes in 2006, as her mom Lesley Vogel booked her daughter’s first commercial acting job when she was just 11 months old.
Before she was cast in Heroes, Panettiere had turned in impressive performances in hit movies Remember the Titans and A Bug’s Life, in addition to having a three-year stint on daytime soap One Life to Live.
“It was just pure talent that walked in the door [when Panettiere auditioned]. There’s nobody in my head that we saw other than her,” Kring recalled. “For some of the other parts, I can remember other actors from casting, but no, she was it.”
The writer-producer remembered marveling that Panettiere was able to capture the “offbeat” qualities he’d imagined for Claire Bennet.
“Even with Hayden Panettiere, I described her as the cheerleader who you had the crush on, not the one that everybody else had the crush on,” Kring explained. “So not the golden girl, but slightly quirky, with something offbeat about her.”
Kring was one of many friends and costars who paid tribute to Panettiere’s life and legacy after she died at age 36 in Greenville, South Carolina, on August 16. (The Greenville County Coroner’s Office announced last week that the actress’ death was accidental, caused by the “toxic effects of fentanyl, 4-ANPP, Alprazolam, Methocarbamol, and Quetiapine.” The coroner added that “no signs of trauma were discovered that would have contributed to the death,” though an investigation is ongoing, per Panettiere’s rep.)
“As a showrunner, I have come to appreciate how rare it is to cross paths with a talent like Hayden’s,” King wrote in an essay for Variety on August 19. “But more importantly, I will remember her as a kind and gentle person who was always a joy and an inspiration to work with.”
Looking back on their work together, Kring suggested that Panettiere was truly unlike any young actor he’s ever hired.
“Most 16-year-olds don’t know how to interpret or articulate these emotions, let alone embody them. But she had a deep understanding of human nature that belied her age. As a result, she could find moments within a scene that always made it deeper, or funnier, or more powerful than it was on the page,” he noted. “As a writer, you yearn for a relationship with an actor who elevates everything that you write and finds hidden nuances that you didn’t realize were there. That happened very, very often with her.”
Kring continued, “She was a delight to work with, professional, joyful and willing to go out on a limb and experiment with a scene. She had this bull-in-a-china-shop quality — a determination that really influenced how we wrote her character. The best characters always meet you halfway between the actor and what’s on the page.”
“And in Heroes, where Claire Bennet ended and Hayden became a blurred line,” the writer acknowledged. “She never had to change how she would say something to be Claire Bennet. It was the Hayden voice cadence that we got used to writing for.”
In the wake of Panettiere’s death, Heroes writer and co-executive producer Bryan Fuller revealed that cast and crew from the show — including stars Jack Coleman, Adrian Pasdar, Madeline Zima and Masi Oka — reunited to remember their late friend.
“A HEROES REUNION TO CELEBRATE THE LIFE OF THE YOUNG WOMAN WHO WAS #1 ON THE CALL SHEET AND #1 IN OUR HEARTS AND MEMORIES,” Fuller captioned his Instagram post on August 25. “WE SHARED STORIES OF HAYDEN’S LIGHT THAT SHINED ON ALL OF OUR LIVES.”
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