Know What You Did Last Summer, slated for release later this month, is not a re-release of the same film, which caught the attention of critics and viewers (particularly teenagers) in 1997. Are you as excited as we are? The nineties generation certainly is. As fans of the original film or slasher cinema get excited for its return, here’s what we know about the upcoming film.
The title is not exactly a misnomer for several reasons. For one thing, out of the franchise, the only film that had the audience hooked was the first film. The second film was a forgettable affair. And the less said about the one-season series from Amazon, the better. This idea to make a series without the original actors was so banal that even the streaming audience couldn’t stomach it. A second season never happened.
However, after many wrongs, discussions began for a film with a new story featuring a cast comprising some of the original actors as well as newer ones.
The major original cast members from the 1997 film were actors Jennifer Love Hewitt, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Ryan Phillippe, and Freddie Prinze Jr.
When negotiations began, it seemed improbable that anyone from the 1997 film would appear in the upcoming film, given that the film was announced in early 2023, but two out of the four actors confirmed their involvement in December 2024.
According to Enterta inment Weekly, Jennifer Love Hewitt confirmed that she would reprise her role in an Instagram post. She wrote, “It’s never too late to go back. Julie James is returning. I know what you will be doing next summer!”
The other actor who also agreed to reprise his role was Freddie Prinze Jr., who first said no but eventually agreed to return for the upcoming 2025 film.
In an interview, the actor confirmed that, while his character would be playing a key role, the film will be led by younger actors.
The actor said, “Ray has a bar that he runs. It’s kind of where he’s at in his life now. He’s not the active fisherman that he thought he was going to be. He’s managing and owning a spot of his own and trying to keep it afloat.”
He continued, “I think what [director Jennifer Kaytin Robinson and I] both brought to Ray was a lot more vulnerability in this movie. When the s*** hits the fan again, so to speak, you kind of see how these characters absorbed all that trauma from the first two movies, and now they’re a sponge getting squeezed, and you get to see what comes out. And the amount of vulnerability we were able to put in there, I thought, was really honest and just organic. Nothing felt forced or fake or something that was a note from somebody that didn’t need to be given a note.”
Director Jennifer Kaytin Robinson told EW, “Their relationship is a key part of the film’s emotional arc. It’s about both Ray and Julie finding catharsis through helping the younger cast in this film. I think they both have a lot of emotional stuff that they’ve kind of put band-aids on, and those band-aids are ripped off by our younger cast, and this movie is definitely about them. Each of them has a person in the younger cast that they are connected to, and it is about them helping all five of these kids move through this.”
However, actor Sarah Michelle Gellar (wife of Freddie Prinze Jr.) was clear from the start that she would not return because she died in the first film. The director of this film did her best to get Sarah Michelle Gellar to appear in the film, but it didn’t work (because this isn’t Buffy the Vampire Slayer where she keeps dying and keeps coming back!).
“I tried, okay? I harassed her! But she is dead,” Robinson said. “I tried to pitch some crazy ideas too. I was like, ‘What if it’s like you weren’t dead and you’re actually alive, but in hiding?’ And Sarah’s like, ‘I was on ice. I was the most dead a person could be. You can see my frozen body.’ I was like, ‘Yeah, but what if?’ And she said, ‘I am dead. I am Sarah Dead Gellar.’”
I Know What You Did Last Summer will not be led by Jennifer Love Hewitt or Freddie Prinze Jr., though. A cast of younger actors will lead the film.
Madelyn Cline (Outer Banks), Chase Sui Wonders (The Studio), Jonah Hauer-King (The Little Mermaid), Tyriq Withers (Atlanta), and Sarah Pidgeon (The Wilds) will make up the ensemble cast along with veteran actor Austin Nichols (One Tree Hill, Ray Donovan). And there you have it. I Know What You Did Last Summer is being released on July 18 in Pakistan in select cinemas, so watch out!