Mira Furlan, best known for her roles on Babylon 5 and Lost, has died.
She was 65 years old.
The sad news broke on Furlan’s Twitter account on Thursday.
Babylon 5 creator J. Michael Straczynski paid tribute to the star later that night via Twitter.
“It is a night of great sadness, for our friend and comrade had gone down the road where we cannot reach her,” he said.
“But as with all things, we will catch up with her in time, and I believe she will have many stories to tell us, and many new roles to share with the universe.”
While a cause of death has yet not been revealed, Straczynski shared that the cast and crew of Babylon 5 had “known for some time now that Mira’s health was fading.”
“We kept hoping that she would improve,” he wrote. “In a group email sent to the cast a while back, I heard that she might be improving.”
Straczynski revealed that he subsequently got a call from Babylon 5’s Peter Jurasik that Furlan’s husband, director Goran Gajić, was “bringing her home.”
“Mira was a good and kind woman, a stunningly talented performer, and a friend to everyone in the cast and crew of ‘Babylon 5,’ and we are all devastated by the news,” he wrote.
“The cast members with whom she was especially close since the show’s end will need room to process this moment, so please be gentle if they are unresponsive for a time.”
“We have been down this road too often, and it only gets harder.”
Furlan was born in the former Yugoslavia, garnering a string of stage roles. She emigrated to the U.S. in 1991 and went on to star on Babylon 5 in the role of Delenn, a role she held for all five seasons of the show.
The actress is also well-known for playing Danielle Rousseau on the ABC drama series, Lost.
Her role was shrouded in secrecy, with fans waiting on tenterhooks to find out more about her character as the series progressed.
She is survived by Gajić and their son, Marko Lav Gajić.
May she rest in peace.
Paul Dailly is the Associate Editor for TV Fanatic. Follow him on Twitter.