Kaylee Hottle, the Deaf actress who played Jia in Godzilla vs. Kong (2021) and returned for Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire (2024), has died at 18 following a car accident. Confirmation came Tuesday, July 21, 2026.
Hottle was cast in the MonsterVerse franchise as a child, her performance in the 2021 film earning attention both for its scope and for the fact that she communicated entirely in American Sign Language on screen. She was, at the time of casting, one of the few Deaf child actors to headline a major studio tentpole release.
She reprised Jia five years later in the 2024 sequel, by which point the character had aged alongside her. She was 18 when she died.
Specifics of the accident — location, date, and circumstances — have not been released by family or representatives as of Tuesday afternoon. Some initial reports placed her age at 19; her correct age at death was 18.
The 2021 film grossed $468 million worldwide during a pandemic-era hybrid theatrical and streaming release.