Dead but not gone?! Director spills secrets on new I Know What You Did Last Summer — and why Sarah Michelle Gellar said “nope!”

Well, well, well… grab your raincoats and sharpen those fish hooks, horror fans, because I Know What You Did Last Summer is back to haunt another generation of guilty teenagers! But before you start chanting “Helen! Helen!” in hopes of a Sarah Michelle Gellar cameo, allow me to burst your 90s nostalgia bubble; she won’t return. Yes, you heard that right. The Queen of Scream herself, the OG beauty queen Helen Shivers, is staying very much six feet under.

In an interview that’s equal parts hilarious and heartbreaking (for die-hard fans, that is), director Jennifer Kaytin Robinson, the genius behind Do Revenge, broke down the I Know What You Did Last Summer trailer and dropped the real tea: she begged, pleaded, and harassed Gellar to return. But alas, Sarah was unbothered, moisturized, and thriving in the afterlife.

“I tried, okay? I harassed her!” Robinson said, only half-joking. “I pitched her the wildest twists, like what if Helen was in hiding? Witness protection? Cryogenically frozen? I mean, the woman was stabbed, chased, and had a full-on beauty queen death scene… but I had hope!” Gellar, ever the queen of sass, reportedly shut it down with a very deadpan (pun intended), “I am Sarah Dead Gellar.”

Now that’s how you close the coffin on a comeback.

I Know What You Did Last Summer, a new invention

But don’t worry, the 2025 I Know What You Did Last Summer installment isn’t just a copy-paste slasher cash-in. The upcoming flick stars Gen Z darlings Madelyn Cline (Outer Banks), Chase Sui Wonders (Bodies Bodies Bodies), Sarah Pidgeon (The Wilds), Jonah Hauer-King (The Little Mermaid), and Tyriq Withers, all looking too pretty and too guilty to survive this.

The plot? Oh, the classic setup. Teens. A terrible accident. A pact of silence. And a mysterious figure who definitely knows what they did last summer. (Who put the dash cam?) The trailer opens with Cline’s character taking a relaxing bath, because horror logic dictates this is the best time to get murdered. At the same time, her boyfriend is presumably being chopped downstairs by our favorite hook-wielding maniac, The Fisherman.

But here’s the twist that separates this sequel from the rest: Jennifer Love Hewitt (aka Julie James, the scream queen of our youth) and Freddie Prinze Jr. (Ray Bronson, still dreamy) are back as mentors to the traumatized teens. That’s right, the 1997 I Know What You Did Last Summer survivors are now the elder horror statespeople dishing out advice like, “Maybe don’t cover up a murder next time, hmm?”

And if you’re wondering how this new version will look, director Robinson says her visual inspiration wasn’t another slasher; it was Jaws. “I was like, ‘I want beautiful colors, beautiful setting, blue water, red blood.’ For me, it’s kind of like a throwback, and what I hope is that it feels like it’s fresh in its nostalgia,” she explained. Translation? Expect blood, bikinis, and brooding.

And yes, while Maya Hawke (Stranger Things, Do Revenge) was almost in the cast, scheduling conflicts ruined that dream cameo. What a pity! The crossover potential was chef’s kiss.

Also spotted in the trailer: a photo of Helen Shivers’ gravestone, a cruel reminder that some characters are truly, madly, deeply gone. (But hey, at least her hair still looks great… in the frame.)

I Know What You Did Last Summer is now officially a multi-generational franchise, one that refuses to die, much like its mysterious killer. And just like any good horror reboot, it strikes a balance between homage and reinvention. Whether you’re a millennial reliving your VHS glory days or a Gen Z discovering the art of the hook kill for the first time, there’s something deliciously deadly waiting for you in theaters on July 18.

So mark your calendars, sharpen your senses, and for the love of all things horror, do not go night swimming. We know how that turns out.

And to the director who tried to resurrect Sarah Michelle Gellar, we salute your chaotic energy. But some final girls are just too iconic to return.

Image Cover: Brook Rushton/Columbia Pictures