Although best known to the general public for having participated in television series such as “Heroes”, Hayden Panettiere is also known among fans of video games for having participated in the “Kingdom Hearts” saga and in games such as “Until Dawn”.
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17/08/2026
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O early this week was marked by news of hayden Panettiere's death, a 36-year-old actress best known for participating in television series such as “Heroes” and “Nashville”.
What you may not know is that Hayden Panettiere has a special place (very) at the heart of video games enthusiasts, especially fans of the Square-Enix’s “Kingdom Hearts” saga and the “Until Dawn” game of Supermassive Games.
In the case of “Until Dawn”, Panettiere played Samantha Giddings (or simply Sam) one of the main characters in the horror game. As for "Kingdom Hearts", the actress gave voice to Kairi – the character who ends up giving the starting point in the story started in 2002 and who, much later, remained one of the foundations of the saga that mixes worlds of Disney movies with the games of the series "Final Fantasy".
Naturally, the world of video games did not miss the opportunity to say goodbye to Hayden Panettiere and social networks were flooded with messages where the contributions of the actress were remembered (below).
“ The news of Hayden Panettiere’s death is so sad, condolences to her and her family.”, read in one of the publications shared in X. “ I was literally yesterday reviewing the ending of ‘Kingdom Hearts II’ where Kairi reads the letter. Her performance here was beautiful. Very sad”.
“ The final scene of ‘Kingdom Hearts II’ is even more striking. Hayden [Panettiere] have the last line of dialogue in one of the best games ever”it reminds me of another netizen.
It turns out that many fans of Kingdom Hearts expected Hayden Panettiere to be able to return to Kairi's role in the near future, because “Kingdom Hearts IV” was entitled to a new trailer this weekend during Disney's D23 conference. In this trailer, it was confirmed that “Kingdom Hearts IV” will be released at the end of 2027.
Nor did the organizer of The Game Awards and the Summer Game Fest, Geoff Keighley, no longer pay his respects to Hayden Panettiere with a publication on social network X. “ What a sad ending to such a beautiful weekend for ‘Kingdom Hearts’”, wrote Keighley. “Kari’s voice, actress Hayden Panettiere, died at age 36. Rest in peace”.