Jasmine Hottle to Take Late Sister’s Film Role

Jasmine Hottle will take the role her late sister Kaylee had planned to play in the film What Doesn’t Kill Us, writer and producer Andy Mingo said. Mingo said Jasmine, who is deaf like her sister, would join the project in a move intended to honor Kaylee’s memory and continue work she had planned to do.

Kaylee Hottle, an actor known for playing Jia in Godzilla vs. Kong and Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire, died at 18 in July 2026. She had been due to appear in What Doesn’t Kill Us before her death. The reports of Jasmine’s casting all attribute the information to Mingo’s remarks to People; they do not include a separate production announcement or a statement from Jasmine.

Mingo said the filmmakers saw Jasmine’s involvement as more than replacing an actor. He described it as a way to preserve Kaylee’s legacy while telling a story he hoped would reach audiences beyond the disability community. The project’s status and any further production details were not given.

What Doesn’t Kill Us is described as a superhero story about friends with disabilities pursuing their ambitions. Mingo said the filmmakers were committed to disability representation both in front of and behind the camera....