In the week following Michelle Trachtenberg’s death, fan tributes have been popping up all over. The late actress, who made a lasting impression as the titular child detective in Harriet the Spy, was beloved by a generation that grew up with her. She was a late but integral addition to Buffy the Vampire Slayer and a wildly manipulative socialite on Gossip Girl.
But more than being a millennial mainstay, Trachtenberg also inspired many young figure skaters who knew her best from the 2005 film Ice Princess, in which she plays Casey Carlyle, a Harvard-bound teen who instead chooses to pursue her dream of being a professional figure skater. Now, the figure skaters Trachtenberg inspired to pursue the sport are honoring her with emotional on-ice routines.
The opening scene of Ice Princess has Trachtenberg skating around a frozen pond, bundled up in a beanie and mittens with a smile on her face. Aly and AJ’s Disney-era hit “No One” — a song about being content with exactly who you are — plays in the background. For figure skaters like Ryan Dunk, this scene holds a certain significance. He’s since recreated it on TikTok, where it has more than 3.6 million views.
“My best way of dealing with things or expressing things is through movement and music,” Dunk, 24, from Baltimore, told Yahoo Entertainment. “When I saw the news that Michelle had passed away, I was compelled to skate to that song because I remember it so vividly from the beginning of the movie when she’s on that pond. I wanted to just do a tribute to her. She inspired me and so many others as kids and young adults.”
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As a child, Dunk watched Ice Princess repeatedly. It quickly became a staple for him.
“The movie does such a good job of expressing the freedom of skating and what draws a lot of people to the ice. That fantasy of flying and feeling strong and beautiful, as [Trachtenberg] says in the movie,” he said. “She gave a lot of people the ability to not be afraid to dream and not, as cheesy as it sounds, be afraid to go after something that you’re passionate about.”
Dunk recalls watching Trachtenberg perform the final routine at the end of the film, in her sparkly ombré blue dress and mini tiara. Trachtenberg’s character Casey falls down at one point, eliciting gasps from the audience. But she gets back up and finishes the routine to roars of applause.
“That was such a huge deal for 7-year-old Ryan,” he said.
For Thita Lamsam, 25, being able to figure skate felt nearly impossible. Lamsam, who is from Thailand, told Yahoo that figure skaters are “kind of nonexistent” where she’s from. But watching Ice Princess changed everything for her.
“I watched it with my older sister,” Lamsam said. “We would try to mimic the movie, but there were no ice rinks in Thailand basically. So we would just put baby powder on the floor and put socks on and pretend that we were skating. I knew most if not all the characters’ programs by heart.”
Lamsam, a student at Northwestern University in Chicago, continues to skate. She posted her tribute to Trachtenberg on TikTok as well, thanking the actress for helping her realize her passion 18 years ago.
“[Trachtenberg’s] character made a huge impact in my life,” she said. “Probably the biggest impact because her character is what made me decide to start skating. And because of that, I got to experience so many things that I never thought I was going to experience.”
Fans of Ice Princess aren’t the only ones paying tribute to the late star. HellmouthCon, an annual fandom event that celebrates the Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel universes, plans to honor Trachtenberg at their upcoming gathering on the weekend of June 13.
The convention has previously paid tribute to other stars from Buffy and Angel who’ve passed away. The event has raised funds for relevant foundations and hosted panels where former co-stars come together and recall their favorite memories with the late stars.
Trachtenberg joined Buffy the Vampire Slayer in its fifth season as Dawn Summers, the younger sister of Buffy (Sarah Michelle Gellar) who prior to her introduction in the season premiere had never been mentioned. It was a confusing moment for Buffy fans everywhere as this young girl seemingly appeared out of the blue yet was immediately familiar to all the characters. While Dawn generated mixed reactions from the fandom, Trachtenberg’s portrayal of the teen succeeded in striking a familiar, affecting chord among fans: Being a teenage girl can be hard.
Dawn, as several fans have expressed since Trachtenberg’s passing, became everyone’s little sister in the fandom. She was a series regular on the show from 2000-2003.
Marsia Powers, president and founder of Fandom Charities, the nonprofit volunteer-based organization in charge of HellmouthCon, spoke to Yahoo about how Trachtenberg’s sudden death has affected the fandom.
“She was the person for a lot of young folks,” Powers said. “They followed her from her first television shows, and her films afterwards. They were teenagers when [Buffy] was on. The way her character was not just written, but the way she performed it, affected a lot of teenagers on how they had to deal with family and with the problems they had.”
In addition to donating to organizations and curating a panel, Powers also wants to incorporate a conversation on how to cope with death and losing someone suddenly.
“When somebody [dies] so young, I think it’s going to affect a lot of people,” she said. “We need to do [things] today and not put [it] off until tomorrow, because you literally don’t know if there’s going to be a tomorrow, which is one of the many themes of Buffy. It’s not just a storyline. It’s real life.”
On the Gossip Girl subreddit, fans of the teen drama are sharing their favorite moments of Trachtenberg’s character, Georgina Sparks, who appeared on the show during its original run from 2007-2012 and again in two episodes of the reboot, which ran from 2021-2023. As Georgina, Trachtenberg was adored for her biting one-liners and dedication to tormenting Serena van der Woodsen (Blake Lively) and the privileged bunch of Upper East Siders. One typical fan of the show praised Trachtenberg for “giving us one of the most iconic female characters of all time.”
Going forward, Trachtenberg’s legacy will live on in those she’s inspired. Lamsam and Dunk hope to continue honoring her as best they can.
“[Trachtenberg in Ice Princess] kind of said something along the lines of, ‘If I fail, I fail. But I want to see how far I can go,’” Lamsam said. “This idea that if you’re passionate about something, you should do it. I want to see how far I can go too.”
Added Dunk, “I think just holding her in my heart forever and keeping that perspective that life is short, and to just share your love with others, your art with others. She’ll always be our ice princess.”
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