Jasmine Hottle, the older sister of late actress Kaylee Hottle, will take over the role her sister was to play in the upcoming indie feature "What Doesn't Kill Us," according to the film's writer and producer, Andy Mingo. Kaylee Hottle, who was 18, died after a car accident in Maryland in July, and the film's director is Anna Campbell. Like Kaylee, Jasmine is deaf, and Mingo said her involvement honours Kaylee's memory while continuing the work she was going to be part of.

Mingo described Kaylee's death as an unimaginable tragedy felt deeply by everyone involved with the project. He said that when the team began discussing how to move forward, the possibility of Jasmine taking on her sister's role emerged as particularly meaningful, and that it was an opportunity to preserve something of Kaylee's legacy while telling a story intended to resonate beyond the disability community. The film follows a group of disabled individuals who channel their experiences into superhero identities.S1S2

Hottle was born in Atlanta into a multi-generational deaf family and began her career in commercials, including one for video relay service Convo. An assistant director who had worked on 2017's "Kong: Skull Island" noticed her in that commercial and recommended her to the producers of "Godzilla vs. Kong." She made her feature debut in the 2021 blockbuster as Jia, the adopted daughter of Rebecca Hall's character, who bonds with King Kong through sign language, and she reprised the role in 2024's "Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire," earning a Saturn Award nomination for Best Performance by a Younger Actor.S1

Hottle died after the car she was in swerved off the road and struck a ditch at about 3 a.m. in Ijamsville, Maryland, according to reports citing police. A 19-year-old was driving a 1995 Honda Accord that travelled off the right side of the two-lane road and struck a culvert, and authorities said excessive speed is believed to be a contributing factor. She was taken to a local trauma center and later pronounced dead from blunt force injuries; the Maryland Office of the Chief Medical Examiner ruled her death an accident. Her father, Joshua Hottle, had shared the news in a 23-minute Facebook livestream conducted entirely in American Sign Language.S1S2

Co-star Millie Bobby Brown said she was devastated by the death, writing on Instagram, "You will be deeply missed Kaylee." Dispatch audio obtained by Page Six indicated that first responders sought someone who knew sign language or had an interpreter app to communicate with Kaylee, and that she was unconscious when emergency personnel arrived.S2