Hayden Panettiere Was 'Not Okay' While Filming Final Movie, Director Recalls 'Pretty Dark' Energy Around Boyfriend Brian Hickerson

Hayden Panettiere was struggling behind the scenes of her final movie.

Director Griff Furst recalled the actress was “not okay” while filming A Breed Apart with her on-again, off-again boyfriend Brian Hickerson nearby.

Panettiere died suddenly at 36 on August 16 in South Carolina. Her cause of death has not yet been determined, with toxicology results still pending.

Furst, who had known the late child actress for about 10 years, said he was excited to work with her because he knew she was “insanely talented.” But shortly after she arrived for filming, the movie’s security team told him that “something was off.”

The filmmaker said he went to greet Panettiere and Hickerson, who had joined her on set.

“He opened the door. Hayden was incredibly sweet and gracious and excited to work, but she was not okay,” he recalled in an Instagram video shared August 17.

“I’m not going to get into the details of why that was,” he continued.

“But having worked on over 100 movies and seeing just about everything, it was pretty clear that she wasn’t okay and the energy in her room was pretty dark," he added.

Furst said he believed Panettiere had been doing better in the years since they worked together. He revealed that they had even recently discussed doing another movie together, which made the news of her death “hit even harder.”

“I see all these tributes online about the light that Hayden was and she really was incredible, she was a force to be reckoned with, When we did this movie, that was definitely still in there, but there was something else in there too that made it a lot harder to reach," the director said.

Panettiere’s death has also brought renewed attention to Hickerson’s relationship with the Nashville star. The pair was first romantically linked in 2018, and their relationship was complicated by Hickerson’s arrests on domestic violence charges in 2019 and 2020.

In 2021, he pleaded no contest to two felony counts of injuring a partner stemming from the 2020 case. He was sentenced to 45 days in jail, four years of formal probation, domestic violence classes, restitution and a five-year protective order. He ultimately served 13 days.

She later said in 2022 that she and Hickerson had reconnected as friends.

Now, an incident report from the day of her death has provided another troubling detail. Hickerson and his brother, Zach Hickerson, reportedly called 911 after finding Panettiere unresponsive at the apartment, per CBS News.

Brian also reportedly handed police a “bag of medication” belonging to the Heroes star. The contents of the bag have not been made public, with portions of the incident report redacted.

Hayden’s mother, Lesley Vogel, has since spoken out about Hickerson and her family’s concerns over his presence in her daughter’s life.

“This person in her life that we have been trying to get rid of for quite some time was with her at her death, and that was Brian Hickerson,” Lesley told NBC News.

The 70-year-old said there was “a lot of history in the past” and claimed that Brian had “enabled the Scream actress many times,” which she said was why she and Hayden’s father had been concerned about him for a long time.

Reflecting on her daughter’s life, Lesley said Hayden had been “an amazingly talented person” but struggled with the pressures of growing up in the entertainment industry.

“I think Hayden sadly lost her way, and I wish it were different. I wish she had stayed true to herself because she had many incredible attributes," she added.

She ended by remembering her daughter’s late brother, Jansen Panettiere, who died unexpectedly in 2023 at 28.

“I just feel that she’s with her brother and they’re at peace,” she said.