Ms Wersching’s husband, Stephen Full, confirmed her death in a statement to Deadline. “There is a cavernous hole in the soul of this family today,” he said. “But she left us the tools to fill it. She found wonder in the simplest moment. She didn’t need music to dance. She taught us not to wait for adventure to find you. ‘Go find him. It’s everywhere.’ And we will find it.
Tributes to Ms Wersching flooded social media on Sunday evening. “We just lost a beautiful artist and human being. My heart is broken, ” tweeted Neil Druckmann, the creator of “The Last of Us” and co-president of video game developer Naughty Dog.
“Everyone loved Annie. Everyone,” fellow actress Ever Carradine wrote in a verified GoFundMe fundraiser set up for Ms Wersching’s husband and three sons.
“Annie was diagnosed with cancer in the summer of 2020,” Carradine wrote. “She is a private person by nature, and the diagnosis has made her even more so. She wanted to protect her boys. She wanted to get better so she could continue to work. And honestly, she just didn’t really want to talk about it. She wanted to live her life, on her terms, and be with her family.
After her cancer diagnosis, Ms. Wersching continued acting, appearing as the Borg Queen on Paramount Plus’ “Star Trek: Picard” and as serial killer Rosalind Dyer on ABC’s “The Rookie.” In her last Instagram post in August, she shared her excitement at reprising the role.
Mrs. Wersching was born in Saint-Louis. She acted for approximately two decades, appearing as recurring and one-off characters on dozens of television series, including “Bosch,” “Runaways,” “The Vampire Diaries,” and “Star Trek: Enterprise.”
She gave voice and movement to the character of Tess Servopoulos in the popular 2013 PlayStation 3 title “The Last of Us,” which HBO recently released as a TV series. Co-creators Druckmann and Craig Mazin said in a joint statement that Episode 3, released on Sunday evening, will be dedicated to Ms. Wersching.
Her friend Carradine described Ms Wersching as a cheerful and generous person who “lived for her family”.
In his statement to Deadline, Full said that whenever he drives with their sons, Freddie, Ozzie and Archie, away from the home they all shared, “she was screaming ‘BYE!’ until we’re out of earshot and into the world. I can still hear it ringing.
Gene Park contributed to this report.