Sarah Michelle Gellar is addressing the death of Nicholas Brendon.

The 48-year-old Buffy the Vampire Slayer actress spoke out about the death of her co-star during an appearance at the Italian premiere of Ready or Not 2: Here I Come on Monday (March 23) in Rome, Italy.

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“It’s a tragedy. It’s a tragedy when you lose anyone at any point. It’s a bigger tragedy when you lose someone way sooner than needs to be,” she explained.

“This business is very tough, and we’ve had…it feels like we’ve had more tragedy than other shows,” she went on to say, referring to Buffy, noting that it’s “probably not the case, but it feels that way because it’s personal, and it’s in our faces.”

Nearly a dozen Buffy stars have passed away since filming, including Michelle Trachtenberg last year.

She called Nicholas, who played the role of Xander Harris, “an integral part of Buffy, and that never goes away.”

“I think as actors we talk a lot or think a lot about legacy. He brought so much joy to so many people on that show, and that lives on. And that’s the truth,” she went on to say.

Nicholas passed away on March 20. His family shared a statement revealing he passed in his sleep from natural causes at the age of 54. He previously shared in 2023 that he had suffered from a heart attack and was diagnosed with a congenital heart defect along with cauda equina syndrome, leading to multiple spinal surgeries.

Find out which other stars have spoken out and paid tribute to the late actor.