Kaylee Hottle's Sister Will Step In for Her in Unfinished Final Film

Jasmine Hottle will take on the role her sister Kaylee was due to play in an unfinished film, Variety reported on 12 November 2026. Kaylee Hottle, the young actor from "Godzilla vs. Kong," died in a car accident earlier in 2026. She was 18.

Kaylee had planned to star in "What Doesn't Kill Us," a feature film about people with disabilities who find that what the world might call a limitation is, in fact, a strength. Andy Mingo wrote the film and is one of its producers. The cast is made up of actors with disabilities, and includes Alaqua Cox and Maddie Haining.

Jasmine Hottle is deaf, like her sister. Kaylee was deaf too, and she came from a family in which deafness runs through several generations. She was fluent in American Sign Language, the visual language used by many Deaf people in the United States and Canada. Her sister's decision to step in gives the film a way to keep the part her sister was building.

Kaylee grew up in Texas and went to the Texas School for the Deaf, where she ran on the track-and-field team. Her acting work reached a wide audience through the Godzilla films. She appeared in "Godzilla vs. Kong" and "Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire," playing Jia, the adopted daughter of Dr. Ilene Andrews, who was played by Rebecca Hall. For that performance, she received a Saturn Award nomination for best performance by a younger actor.

She also appeared in a 2021 episode of the television series "Magnum P.I."

Her death leaves a gap in a small but growing group of deaf and disabled performers who have moved into mainstream films and television. The film's makers have chosen to keep her planned role in the story, with her sister taking it on.