Hayden Panettiere, recognized by players as Sam in Until Dawn and Kairi in Kingdom Hearts, has died at 36. Her family confirmed the news while details remain limited.
Image: press-start.com.au
Hayden Panettiere’s death has been confirmed
Hayden Panettiere, the actor known to many players as Samantha “Sam” Giddings in Until Dawn, has died at 36. The death was confirmed in a family statement shared with US media and quoted by outlets including the BBC, ABC News, Push Square, Kotaku, KTLA, Shacknews, and GosuGamers.
“It is with profound sadness that we share the tragic passing of our beloved Hayden,” the statement reads, according to the versions published by those outlets. “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.”
The immediate fact is clear, but the surrounding details remain limited. Kotaku reported that details surrounding Panettiere’s death had not been made public. GosuGamers said the cause of death was unknown. KTLA, citing ABC News and TMZ, reported that additional details about the circumstances were not immediately available. GameLoop is not adding to those reports or speculating beyond them.
How players knew her: Sam in Until Dawn
For horror players, Panettiere’s most visible game role was Sam in Until Dawn, Supermassive Games’ branching PlayStation horror title. KTLA describes her as having voiced and performed Samantha “Sam” Giddings in the game. Kotaku similarly reports that she provided both voice and motion capture for Sam.
That distinction matters because Until Dawn sold its fear through performance as much as through jump scares. Sam was one of the game’s central playable characters, and Panettiere’s likeness, voice, and physical performance helped anchor the cabin-in-the-mountains dread that defined the 2015 PlayStation 4 release. Push Square notes that Until Dawn launched on PS4 in 2015 and was re-released on PS5 in 2024.
Until Dawn’s structure made its cast unusually important for a horror game. The player was not only watching characters run, hide, hesitate, or panic. The player was steering those choices under pressure. Panettiere’s performance as Sam sat inside that system of survival decisions, where a look, a breath, or a moment of restraint could change how a scene landed.
A recognizable face in PlayStation horror
Push Square notes that Panettiere appeared in Until Dawn alongside other high-profile actors including Rami Malek. Shacknews describes her as one of the faces of the game and says she appeared across its promotional material leading up to release. That public-facing role is part of why the phrase “Until Dawn Hayden Panettiere” remains so searchable among PlayStation fans today.
Sam’s place in the game also made Panettiere especially recognizable to horror audiences. Until Dawn is built around the tension of imperfect information: limited time to react, relationships that shift under stress, and threats that punish a bad read. In that context, Sam often functioned as one of the steadier presences in the cast, which made Panettiere’s performance a key part of the game’s balance between teen-slasher chaos and survival-horror control.
That is an interpretation of the role, not a reported cause or production claim. The confirmed point is narrower and enough on its own: multiple outlets identify Panettiere as the actor behind Sam, with KTLA and Kotaku specifically noting both voice and performance work.
Her wider game work included Kingdom Hearts
Players outside the horror space are also likely to recognize Panettiere from Kingdom Hearts. Push Square reports that she played Kairi in the English localization of the first two PlayStation 2 games. Kotaku also identifies her as the original voice of Kairi in the first two Kingdom Hearts titles and says the role was later taken over by Alyson Stoner.
There is some variation in how outlets describe the full scope of her Kingdom Hearts credits. GosuGamers reports that Panettiere voiced Kairi in Kingdom Hearts, Kingdom Hearts II, and Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep, and also played Xion in Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance. Because the provided sources do not all list the same full credit set, the safest confirmed overlap is that she is widely identified by gaming outlets as Kairi in the early Kingdom Hearts games, with later roles in the series attributed by GosuGamers.
Her better-known screen work also shaped how many players encountered her. Push Square, Kotaku, and KTLA all cite Heroes and Nashville among her major television roles. KTLA reports that her performance as Juliette Barnes in Nashville earned her two Golden Globe nominations. KTLA and Kotaku also note her connection to the Scream franchise, where she played Kirby Reed.
Until Dawn’s future is separate from confirmed reporting on her death
Because Until Dawn has remained active as a franchise, players may wonder whether Panettiere’s death has any direct bearing on future projects. The available sources do not report any such production change.
Push Square says Until Dawn was adapted into a movie in 2025, while also noting that Panettiere did not star in it. The same outlet reports that a sequel with a new cast of characters is due in 2027. GosuGamers reports that Panettiere reprised Sam for a post-credit scene in the 2024 remake and says Until Dawn 2 was later announced without her character returning.
Those are franchise-status details, not evidence of any new plan, tribute, rewrite, or cancellation. At the time of these reports, the confirmed news is Panettiere’s death, her documented role as Sam, and the previously reported state of the Until Dawn franchise. Anything beyond that, including how a future game might acknowledge her, remains unannounced in the supplied source material.
A careful pause for horror players revisiting the game
For anyone returning to Until Dawn now, the practical answer is simple: the original PlayStation 4 game remains the title most associated with Panettiere’s role as Sam, while Push Square reports a PS5 re-release arrived in 2024. The sources provided here do not include pricing, upgrade-path details, current storefront availability, or performance information, so those should be checked directly on PlayStation listings before buying or replaying.
The emotional answer is less tidy. Horror games often ask players to manage fear as a resource: a held breath, a saved character, a missed prompt, a door opened too quickly. Panettiere’s work in Until Dawn lives inside that pressure for many players, which is why the news has moved quickly through gaming sites alongside broader entertainment coverage.
The reporting available now supports remembrance, not conjecture. Hayden Panettiere’s death has been confirmed. She was 36. For players, one of the clearest places her work endures is still the cold, dangerous night of Until Dawn, where Sam remains one of the performances that gave the game its human weight.