“I’m so devastated to hear this. You will be deeply missed Kaylee,” her Godzilla co-star Millie Bobby Brown posted on Instagram.

Costar Alexander Skarsgård, who learned ASL to communicate with Hottle, told the pop culture website Junkee in 2021 that he and others were impressed by the young ingenue's professionalism and her ability to quickly incorporate the director's notes into her acting.

In a 2024 interview with The Associated Press, Hottle said through an interpreter that she hadn't watched monster movies before she was cast in Godzilla, so her father helped her understand the genre.

“I look up to a lot of people, but the one person I look up to, the few people I look up to mostly, are my parents and my sisters,” Hottle signed.

Hottle signed that when she was working on the first film, she was a bit concerned about whether she would be able to return to her “normal life", afterward.

“People do recognise me at school, yes, but it's not as bad as I thought it would be,” Hottle signed.

Hottle previously appeared in a 2021 television episode of Magnum PI. She was listed as appearing in the upcoming film What Doesn’t Kill Us.

“I’m so heartbroken. My heart goes out to her family during this unimaginable time,” Alaqua Cox, her co-star in that film and fellow deaf actor, wrote on Instagram.

Other prominent deaf actors also shared messages of grief online.

“I am absolutely gutted about the passing of sweet Kaylee Hottle. May her beauty and talent be a memory for eternity,” Oscar winner Marlee Matlin wrote on Instagram.

Fellow Oscar winner Troy Kotsur, who starred in the film Coda, wrote that Hottle's death made him think of his own daughter, and reminded him not to take time for granted.

“I have no words to express on what happened this morning,” Kotsur wrote, offering his “deepest condolences” to the Hottle family.

Officials with Texas School for the Deaf in Austin also announced Hottle's death on Facebook, writing that counselling and support services would be available to her classmates and friends.

“Please keep Kaylee's loved ones in your thoughts as we mourn this tremendous loss together,” the school wrote.