Aug. 26, 2026, 10:55 a.m. ET
The cast of “Heroes” reunited to honor their late costar Hayden Panettiere, gathering to remember the actress more than a week after her death at 36.
Members of the cast and crew of the NBC superhero drama reunited in Panettiere’s honor, sharing photos from the gathering and reflecting on the impact she had on them.
Jimmy Jean-Louis, who starred as superhero “The Haitian,” a character with the ability to erase memories and suppress others powers, shared photos from the reunion Wednesday featuring several familiar faces from the series, including Masi Oka, Greg Grunberg, Sendhil Ramamurthy and Jack Coleman.
“A ‘HEROES’ reunion to celebrate the life of HAYDEN was deeply emotional,” Jean-Louis wrote on X. “There was sadness in our hearts, but also so much love, gratitude and warmth as we remembered the beautiful moments shared and the lasting impact of a life that touched so many. Au revoir Hayden.”
Bryan Fuller, a writer and producer on “Heroes,” also shared photos from the gathering on Instagram, remembering Panettiere as a central part of the show and of the cast’s lives.
“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 wrote, adding that the group shared stories about the actress and the impact she had on them.
Panettiere starred as Claire Bennet, a high school cheerleader with regenerative powers, on “Heroes,” which ran for four seasons on NBC from 2006 to 2010. Coleman played Claire’s adoptive father, Noah Bennet, on the series.
Following Panettiere’s death, Coleman shared his own emotional tribute to his former onscreen daughter, recalling meeting her while filming the show’s pilot two decades earlier.
“I’ve loved Hayden since day one of the pilot of ‘Heroes,’ 20 years ago, when she introduced herself by shouting ‘daddy’ and throwing her arms around me,” Coleman wrote on Instagram. “From that day on, she called me daddio. She was Haydini, because she was a magician.”
Panettiere died Aug. 16 in Greenville, South Carolina. Authorities said she was found unresponsive and pronounced dead at the scene. Her death remains under investigation, and an official cause of death has not been released.
Her father, Skip Panettiere, remembered his daughter in a statement shared with ABC News following her death as “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.”
