At this point, Hayden Panettiere is a Hollywood veteran in every sense of the word. After all, the 35-year-old actor has been working in the movie business for the better part of three decades, having started her career at the tender age of five in the ABC soap opera One Life to Live. Over the years, she graduated from a child actor to a teen star thanks to appearances on Ally McBeal and Malcolm in the Middle, before superstardom beckoned with NBC’s 2006 superpowered drama Heroes.
After Heroes wrapped up in 2010, Panettiere stayed in the public eye thanks to her beloved role as horror trivia fanatic Kirby Reed in Scream 4, before she starred in six seasons of the incredibly successful country music drama Nashville. After a four-year break from the industry following that show’s end, Panettiere returned to Kirby in 2023’s Scream VI, and has since been enjoying exploring the fast-moving, creatively fulfilling world of independent film.
Amusingly, Panettiere’s status as Hollywood’s youngest veteran has led to some strange moments acting alongside some of the industry’s biggest stars. “There was a little bit of awkwardness when I was young, like ten or 12 years old, and I was working with big celebrities,” she admitted to Far Out with a warm smile. “I’d been in the industry even longer than them, which I think they found mind-boggling!”
One benefit of Panettiere’s vast wealth of experience in film and television is that she has tangible know-how that can be applied to independent productions. In 2025 alone, she starred in the action horror remake A Breed Apart, which arrived on VOD on May 15th, and Sleepwalker, a psychological thriller expected to be released in the back half of the year. Both of these films required Panettiere to work smart and fast, and she loved getting the opportunity to explore two distinct sides of herself with wildly different performances.
In A Breed Apart, Panettiere plays Hayden Hearst, a high-maintenance actress fighting for her life with a group of influencers on an island populated by rabid dogs. The film is a meta remake of 2006’s The Breed, which starred Michelle Rodriguez, and in this follow-up, the influencers travel to the island where the original movie was shot to ‘rescue’ the dogs that have been abandoned there. To their slapstick chagrin, they soon discover the vicious canines consider the island their hunting grounds.
A Breed Apart was a blast for Panettiere, as she had never previously been able to send herself up on-screen. On top of that, though, she also relished the film’s gnarly action sequences, because getting physical on-set and doing stunts is something she gets a kick out of. “I loved that character,” she grinned, noting how she was “a little bit badass” and “a character that I don’t think people have ever really seen me play.” In fact, the high stakes involved in the action scenes supercharged her adrenaline so much that she gushed, “I’d love to do more action films in the future. I love that combination of physicality and acting.”
In truth, Panettiere has always been keen to do her own stunts on every production she’s been a part of, and over her 30 years in the business, she’s amassed an enviable number of skills simply because she had to learn them for a part. “I’ve been fortunate enough to do everything from learning how to race zebras and horses to learning how to figure skate,” she smiled. “Chances are, I would never get the chance to do that in real life. I mean, who gets to ride a zebra? Not many people can say that!”
As for the film’s playful skewering of Hollywood moviemaking, Panettiere claimed that the over-the-top fictionalised account of The Breed’s bloody behind-the-scenes tale is probably only a step or two removed from reality. While no one has been torn to shreds by a rabid dog on any of her productions, she’s seen her fair share of meltdowns – and maybe had one or two herself. “I definitely drew from personal experience,” she laughed. “You know, we’ve all had our moments!”
“I’ve always said the truth is absolutely stranger than fiction,” Panettiere continued, “and things like that go down on-set all the time. I wish somebody would write a book about all the crazy stories that have happened on sets.” As the experienced star knows all too well, making a movie is nowhere near as glamorous as it may seem to fans and outsiders, and it can be a stressful environment to be involved in. However, it’s also possible for Hollywood types to take themselves far too seriously, so she was grateful to “find the humour” in what she does for a living.
After wrapping A Breed Apart, Panettiere moved on to Sleepwalker, the feature film debut of director Brandon Auman. That indie production, which was shot in Rhode Island, was worlds away from the hijinks of rabid dogs, Hollywood satire, and clueless influencers. She played Sarah, a grieving mother suffering from sleepwalking episodes brought on by the tragic death of her daughter in a car wreck that also left her abusive husband in a coma. Throughout the film, her haunting visions become increasingly intense and vividly real, until she struggles to separate reality from nightmare.
Despite the subject matter of Sleepwalker being so harrowing, Panettiere found the whirlwind production to be so fulfilling that it intensified her long-held desire to involve herself more behind the camera. “We shot this whole film in 15 days, which is insane, because it’s a psychological thriller and Brandon was a first-time director,” Panettiere exclaimed. “There were high stakes at all times on set, and we were moving at the speed of light. I really felt like I got to utilise all my skills that I have picked up after being in this industry for as long as I have.”
In truth, working fast appealed to Panettiere, who has been on enough sets over the years to know that idly spending eight hours a day in your trailer is no fun at all. “I’ve fortunately been on things that move pretty, pretty rapidly,” she noted. “But this was by far the fastest.”
As an executive producer on the project, Panettiere was able to dig into all the “technical parts” of moviemaking that actors aren’t always privy to. She found it fascinating to talk to her fellow producers about locations, and to chew the fat with cinematographer Marcus Friedlander and the camera operators about “creating these interesting shots.” She even received firsthand experience of the editing process for the first time, which helped her more clearly understand the old adage that “you never really know what film you’ve shot until you’re sitting there watching it.”
As far as Panettiere’s response to the next question goes, though, it was extremely telling. When asked if she had any aspirations to take all her accumulated knowledge and put it into directing her own film, her face lit up, and she began nodding vigorously. “I would love to direct,” she stated emphatically. “I’d love to keep producing, too, but I need to have that experience as a director. I think I could pull it off. I think I could do it well.”
Another benefit of Sleepwalker, aside from giving her a moviemaking crash course, was that the film offered Panettiere something extremely close to her heart. “I got to work with two kids, and I love working with kids, and they both crushed it,” she gushed about her young co-stars. “They were just incredible.”
As a former child star who has seen and done it all, and endured some tough times in the industry, there are few better mentors for a child actor than Panettiere. She takes that responsibility very seriously, too, because she remembers what it was like when she found herself working with an actor or director “who had zero patience for children and zero respect.” Thanks to her unique perspective, she will always be deeply empathetic toward kids on set.
“Kids are very, very resilient,” a thoughtful Panettiere clarified, before reminiscing about the problematic aspects of being a working actor as a kid. She revealed that oftentimes she could be filming an incredibly emotional scene, “where my dad dies, and I’m crying over his body,” and all of a sudden, the director would call, “Cut!” She’d immediately be yanked out of acting mode and thrust into 20 minutes of school mode, which wasn’t always an easy transition.
“I’d have to switch to algebra or science, and you’re just on an emotional rollercoaster,” she admitted with a shake of the head. “I get very protective of kids, because I feel like when I grew up, there wasn’t a whole lot of understanding that, you know, that’s a tricky manoeuvre. So, every time I get to work with kids, I get excited because I want to help them have the best experience they can have.”
As for Panettiere’s future, she’s open to whatever comes next, whether that be a return as Kirby in a future Scream movie, or more opportunities to indulge her creative muse as actor, producer, or director. Intriguingly, away from the cameras, she will soon be involved in a top-secret creative project on behalf of The Cameron Boyce Foundation, a non-profit established in 2019 in the wake of the tragic Disney star’s death from an epileptic seizure. It aims to raise awareness of epilepsy and fund research into a cure, and for this writer, whose daughter is epileptic, the cause is incredibly worthwhile.
“I really enjoy using my platform to bring attention to causes and charities that I am passionate about,” Panettiere concluded with true sincerity. “I kind of feel like if you are able to reach that many people to make a difference, then it’s your responsibility. I feel like it’s my responsibility. So, it’s been a fun project, and hopefully it’ll be out soon.”
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