Naya Rivera's son has landed his first movie role - six years after her tragic death.

Josey, 10, has been cast in the upcoming film The Burning Valley alongside his 43-year-old dad, actor Ryan Dorsey.

According to the film's IMDb page, the youngster is credited as "Boy", while Ryan is listed as "Father".

The Burning Valley, written and directed by Evan Coury in his feature-film debut, is currently shooting on location in the Pennsylvania Rust Belt, including spots in Arnold, around Brackenridge and across the Allegheny River.

Evan told TribLive: "The movie is about a steelworker who loses his job when the mill announces a shutdown. It sets him on a journey as he wanders through his Rust Belt town."

He described the movie as a "small, poetic film about deindustrialization, with an emotional truth".

Evan added: "My hope is to encapsulate the history of our region through one guy's personal experience."

However, this is not Josey's first acting role, as he had a part in a 2024 theatre production of Seussical Jr, playing one of the Wickersham Brothers.

In July 2020, Naya - best known for playing cheerleader and vocalist Santana Lopez in Fox's musical-comedy series Glee - drowned while swimming from a rental boat with Josey in Lake Piru, California.

And last February, Ryan - who was married to the 33-year-old actress between 2014 and 2018 - told how Josey still feels guilty for not being able to help his mom get out of the water.

Speaking to PEOPLE magazine, he said: "Something he's said over and over is that he was trying to find a life raft, and there was a rope, but there was a big spider on the rope, and he was too scared to throw it.

"I keep reassuring him, 'Buddy, that rope wasn't going to be long enough.'"

Josey, who was just four at the time, remembered it was a windy day, and he worried about getting into the water, but Naya reassured him.

After some time out in the water, the actress noticed the boat was drifting and told her son to swim back.

Ryan explained Josey remembers grabbing "the tanks" and pulling himself "around the boat" but tragically watched as his mom slipped under the surface.

The Ray Donovan star said: "He said that the last thing she said was his name, and then she went under, and he didn't see her anymore.

"It just rocks my world that he had to witness her last moments."

Ryan recalled getting a call from Naya's mom Yolanda's husband to say she was missing while he was at the supermarket buying food for a friend's barbecue, prompting him to immediately drive 145 miles to the lake.

He said: "I collapsed into a pallet of drinks. I feared the worst.

"I drove 100-and-something the whole way with my four-way hazards on, chain-smoking cigarettes - and I don't even smoke, really - and just crying. I just wanted to get to Josey.

"If we'd have lost both Naya and Josey, I don't know how I would continue on with my life. I don't know what I would've done, but I'm sure it wouldn't have been good."

Josey was found alone asleep on an adrift boat, and after five days of searching, Naya's body was found in a remote part of the lake.

Ryan reflected: "When it happened, I just found myself shaking my head, like, 'I can't believe she's gone.' It's still so surreal every day."

He admitted it is "hard" for him to help Josey make sense of his mom's death, but the youngster is still "such a happy kid".

Ryan said: "We made this book of memories for Josey that sits by his bed, and during the holidays he was crying looking at it.

"You can only give him a hug and tell him, 'I know, life is not fair. Bad things happen, and there's no reason for it, and you just have to do your best to be a good person.'

"It's hard trying to explain things that you can't really make sense of no matter what age you are. I'm not a big believer in everything happens for a reason because I can't ever think of a reason why he doesn't have his mom...

"He wakes up happy, all energy. I'm trying to be the best parent that I can be and raise a good little man. He gives me a reason to keep going with my life."