{"id":134898,"date":"2025-05-27T03:28:11","date_gmt":"2025-05-27T03:28:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/134898\/"},"modified":"2025-05-27T03:28:11","modified_gmt":"2025-05-27T03:28:11","slug":"i-know-what-you-did-last-summer-sequel-everything-we-know","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/134898\/","title":{"rendered":"I Know What You Did Last Summer sequel: Everything We Know"},"content":{"rendered":"<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a new sequel to the 1997 slasher\u00a0I Know What You Did Last Summer and its 1998 follow-up\u00a0I Still Know What You Did Last Summer\u00a0coming our way, aiming for a\u00a0July 18<\/strong>\u00a0theatrical release \u2013 and with that date right around the corner, we figured this was the right time to put together a list of Everything We Know About the new I Know What You Did Last Summer sequel. Here we go:<\/p>\n

CREATIVE TEAM<\/p>\n

The announcement that I Know What You Did Last Summer was getting a new sequel came out of nowhere in February 2023, when Deadline<\/a> revealed that, following years of talk about a reboot and then a short-lived TV series being released through the Prime Video streaming service, director Jennifer Kaytin Robinson (Do Revenge) and screenwriter Leah McKendrick (M.F.A.<\/a>) were teaming up for a film that would bring Jennifer Love Hewitt and Freddie Prinze Jr. back as the characters they played in the \u201997 and \u201998 films.<\/p>\n

Deadline explained that\u00a0the idea for the new film came from Robinson and McKendrick, who blew studio execs away when they pitched this idea for a sequel last fall especially given the recent success of the\u00a0Scream\u00a0franchise. That film was recently relaunched with original cast members returning and the idea of bringing back original cast members to draw in old school fans of the franchise while also adding fresh faces to relaunch the series was too good for the studio to pass up on. Another big factor was the recent success of Robinson\u2019s Netflix pic\u00a0Do Revenge,\u00a0which was lauded for its throwbacks to late 90 pics like\u00a0Cruel Intentions\u00a0and was something execs knew Robinson could tap in to when developing the story. The studio also saw it important to not reboot the franchise but do a sort of \u201cpassing of the torch\u201d type of sequel where original cast members are brought back while a new generation cast members are added to the ensemble, similar to films like\u00a0Creed\u00a0or another 90s horror classic\u00a0Scream. <\/p>\n

McKendrick had been working on a\u00a0Grease\u00a0prequel called\u00a0Summer Lovin\u2019\u00a0at Paramount that was cancelled, and after that experience she thought she was done working on properties she didn\u2019t own. Then the opportunity to pitch for a new\u00a0I Know What You Did Last Summer\u00a0sequel came up. She told Collider<\/a>, \u201cThe reason I was able to go in is because it was a Sony film, I have a relationship with Sony, and the producers I also had a relationship with. And I found out it was (Robinson) that was gonna be directing it. And more than anything I thought, \u2018Because my love is so deep for\u00a0I Know What You Did Last Summer, I have to protect it. I must protect it. I can\u2019t let this be, like, cheesy and a cash grab.\u2019 \u2026 When it\u2019s like they\u2019re rebooting something that you love so deeply from your childhood, you\u2019re like, \u2018I know how we can do this and not make it cheesy, and it can stay true to the mythology, and we can bring back the OGs, and it can be a culmination.\u2019 You have all these ideas. So I met with (Robinson). She is so cool, she is so smart. She is just, like, down to try some edgy, cool-ass shit. And I was like, \u2018I\u2019m gonna give this my best shot,\u2019 and I pitched. All they told me was they were like, \u2018We need to know the accident, the event that kicks it off, and know who the killer is.\u2019 Because they knew that if I had to do a whole fleshed out process of pitching, I was probably just not gonna do it because my heart had been so broken by the reboot game. But when they told me that, I was like, \u2018I know what I\u2019m gonna do.\u2019 And no spoilers, but I will say that I think if you\u2019re an OG fan, I think you\u2019re gonna be happy. I think you\u2019re gonna get it.\u201c She went on to say that Robinson is \u201cthinking spectacle\u201d for this sequel is ready to \u201cknock out some really complicated ideas\u201d while ensuring the film is a wild, fun ride. She said the story deals with \u201cbeautiful people behaving badly,\u201d just like the original film, and \u201cit\u00a0really\u00a0reckons with some big ideas about hero and villain, right and wrong, how your skeletons come back to haunt you. And in the age of the internet and the age where fame is such a revered concept, the creation of TikTok and social media, who is Julie James in a world where there are no secrets anymore?\u201c<\/p>\n

McKendrick\u2019s script received some rewrites from Robinson and journalist Sam Lansky.\u00a0<\/p>\n

CAST<\/p>\n

Although Sony went ahead and said that Jennifer Love Hewitt and Freddie Prinze Jr. were involved with the project in the announcement, that wasn\u2019t actually the case. Hewitt and Prinze hadn\u2019t even been contacted yet at the time! And it took quite a while for them to close their deals \u2013 Prinze didn\u2019t officially sign on to reprise the role of Ray Bronson until September of 2024, and Hewitt\u2019s deal to play heroine Julie James again wasn\u2019t signed until December of 2024, the same month filming began. <\/p>\n

The long wait for Hewitt came down to scheduling concerns, as she has been working on the TV series 9-1-1. She was always eager to be in the movie, though. In an interview with\u00a0Coming Soon<\/a>, Hewitt said, \u201cThe idea of returning to Julie James is really exciting for me. It\u2019s scary. I think on the personal level of being like, \u2018what are people gonna think of the 45-year-old version of Julie James?\u2019 I think \u2019cause I\u2019m a woman and human, that part of it makes me a little nervous. But playing her again would be an honor. I think I feel excited to show or see what she\u2019s been up to and how she has changed, and what she still holds onto from that infamous night on the road.\u201c<\/p>\n

For this one, Hewitt and Prinze are joined in the cast by Madelyn Cline (Outer Banks), Chase Sui Wonders (Bodies Bodies Bodies), Jonah Hauer-King (The Little Mermaid), Tyriq Withers (Atlanta), Sarah Pidgeon (Tiny Beautiful Things), Billy Campbell (The Rocketeer), model \/ musician Gabbriette Bechtel (making her feature film acting debut), Austin Nichols (The Day After Tomorrow), Lola Tung (The Summer I Turned Pretty),\u00a0and Nicholas Alexander Chavez (Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Men\u00e9ndez Story). Hewitt and Prinze are not the leads this time around, so some of the actors on that list will be getting more screen time than they will.<\/p>\n

Prinze confirmed that he and Hewitt are not the leads during an interview on the\u00a0Scale Talk Podcast with David Miniatures<\/a>. He said, with thanks to our friends at\u00a0Bloody Disgusting<\/a>\u00a0for the transcription, \u201c[Director Jennifer Kaytin Robinson] just took such good care of Love\u2019s character, Julie James, and my character, Ray Bronson. They\u2019re not the leads of the movie by any stretch of the imagination. She made them such a powerful pushing forward of the other cast. It\u2019s not like, \u2018Oh, here\u2019s the Ray and Julie movie that we deserve.\u2019 That doesn\u2019t even make sense. That guy\u2019s dead. So it has to be new generation. And the way she sort of laces us in there with them is just beautifully done. The script is wonderfully written.\u201d Another thing Prinze confirmed in that quote is the fact that Ben Willis, the killer from the first two movies, is dead.<\/p>\n

\n

If you\u2019re wondering how Julie and Ray are still alive, when the last scene of I Still Know What You Did Last Summer seemed to imply they were being killed off\u2026 well, it sounds like that scene is being written off as a nightmare, just like the last scene in the first movie. Robinson said<\/a>, \u201cSo the way that I\u2019ve approached the franchise is that I feel like those final scenes in the first two movies live outside the canon, because in the first movie she gets attacked through the shower, through the glass door, and in the second movie, she gets pulled under the bed. So they\u2019re both alive and well, and what I will say is that we have continued the tradition in our film.\u201c<\/p>\n

\n

The events of I Still Know What You Did Last Summer are canon, but it\u2019s not clear if that film\u2019s cast member Brandy Norwood will be making an appearance. Norwood has been open about the fact that she would like to be in the movie, and confirmed that she had talked to the filmmakers.<\/p>\n

At one time, Robinson\u2019s\u00a0Do Revenge\u00a0star Camila Mendes was attached to the project, but had to drop out to work on\u00a0Masters of the Universe. It seems Mendes was replaced by Wonders \u2013 and Robinson confirmed to Entertainment Weekly that she also tried to get Mendes\u2019s\u00a0Do Revenge\u00a0co-star Maya Hawke into the movie, but couldn\u2019t work out the schedule. Sarah Michelle Gellar was another Do Revenge cast member that the director couldn\u2019t get into this movie\u2026 since she played a character who was killed off in the first movie. Robinson said, \u201cI actually tried to get Maya Hawke, and we couldn\u2019t work it out with schedules. I mean, the big one (was Sarah Michelle Gellar). I tried relentlessly, and she\u2019s dead. I tried, okay? I harassed her! But she is dead. I tried to pitch some crazy s\u2014 too. I was like, \u2018What if it\u2019s like you weren\u2019t dead and you\u2019re actually alive, but in hiding?\u2019 And Sarah\u2019s like, \u2018I was on ice. I was the most dead a person could be. You can see my frozen body.\u2019 I was like, \u2018Yeah, but what if?\u2019 And she said, \u2018I am dead. I am Sarah Dead Gellar.\u2019\u201c<\/p>\n

Since she\u2019s married to Prinze and considers Robinson to be a good friend, Gellar was on the fringes on the movie anyway. She told\u00a0People<\/a>,\u00a0\u201cMy best friend [Jennifer Kaytin Robinson] is directing it, so we joke that I have an unofficial job, which is I am continuity. So I\u2019m always the one telling her, \u2018Well, that would happen, or that wouldn\u2019t happen with those characters,\u2019 so I do have kind of an unofficial job title.\u201c<\/p>\n

During production, Wonders told People<\/a> that working on the movie was \u201creally fun, and the cast is incredible. We filmed partially in Australia and now we\u2019re finishing up in L.A.\u201d She described director Robinson as \u201ca genius\u201d and mentioned that, in addition to working with Hewitt and Prinze, she also had the chance to meet Gellar. She said the trio are \u201cicons, and we\u2019ve gotten to meet all of them. They\u2019re absolute legends and live up to all my expectations, which is a lot.\u201d Working on the movie has been \u201cincredible\u201d and \u201cso surreal\u201d \u2013 and when she acted in scenes with Hewitt and Prinze, \u201cI had to act with my contacts out, \u2018cause I couldn\u2019t focus while seeing them act in front of me.\u201c<\/p>\n

\"Fisherman\"\/<\/p>\n

STORY<\/p>\n

In case you need a refresher, the first I Know What You Did Last Summer\u00a0was directed by\u00a0Jim Gillespie\u00a0from a screenplay by\u00a0Kevin Williamson that was inspired by a Lois Duncan novel. The film has the following synopsis:\u00a0A year after running over a fisherman and dumping his body in the water, four friends reconvene when Julie (Jennifer Love Hewitt) receives a frightening letter telling her that their crime was seen. While pursuing who he thinks is responsible for the letter, Barry (Ryan Phillippe) is run over by a man with a meat hook. The bloodletting only increases from there, as the killer with the hook continues to stalk Julie, Helen (Sarah Michelle Gellar) and Ray (Freddie Prinze Jr.). I Still Know What You Did Last Summer\u00a0was directed by Danny Cannon from a screenplay by Trey Callaway. The synopsis:\u00a0A year after killing vengeful hit-and-run victim Ben Wills (Muse Watson), who gutted her friends with an iron hook, college student Julie James (Jennifer Love Hewitt) is still shaken by the experience. When her roommate, Karla (Brandy), wins a vacation for four to the Bahamas, she plans to bring along her boyfriend, Tyrell (Mekhi Phifer), attractive Will (Matthew Settle) and Julie. At the resort, Julie starts receiving threatening notes and realizes Ben is still alive.<\/p>\n

Now, here\u2019s the new sequel\u2019s synopsis:\u00a0When five friends inadvertently cause a deadly car accident, they cover up their involvement and make a pact to keep it a secret rather than face the consequences. A year later, their past comes back to haunt them and they\u2019re forced to confront a horrifying truth: someone knows what they did last summer\u2026 and is hell-bent on revenge. As one by one the friends are stalked by a killer, they discover this has happened before, and they turn to two survivors of the legendary Southport Massacre of 1997 for help.<\/p>\n

Prinze told Entertainment Weekly<\/a>, \u201cCatching up with Ray, you see how that has shaped him into the position he\u2019s in now. He loves his town and not everyone else does, in his view, and he\u2019s a little grumpier with the way the world has treated him since [the 1997 Southport Massacre]. So he has gone through a lot, and I don\u2019t know if he\u2019s dealt with it the way the modern man deals with stuff, you know what I mean? He\u2019s a guy from the \u201990s like myself, so I think he\u2019s probably bottled up a lot more of those feelings we\u2019ve talked about.\u201d He went on to reveal, \u201cRay has a bar that he runs. It\u2019s kind of where he\u2019s at in his life now. He\u2019s not the active fisherman that he thought he was going to be. He\u2019s managing and owning a spot of his own and trying to keep it afloat.\u201c<\/p>\n

Robinson added, \u201cI came to this originally wanting to dig into: if this thing had happened to you, how would that shape you, and what person do you become after it? So really wanting to look at both Ray and Julie and say, \u2018Okay, how did this thing shape both of them and where would they be today?\u2019 \u2026 Without giving too much away, they both moved through the trauma and became fully realized adults, and I think had very different ways of dealing with what happened to them. So that is definitely the main source of conflict between them: how do you move through this? And now that people have way more tools, do you use all the tools, or do you not? Do you push it down and repress it and just keep moving? (The new film is) 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\u2019ve 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. And through doing that, I think they actually are able to find closure and release and are able to move forward in a way that they never would have had they not experienced this with this younger group.\u201c<\/p>\n

MARKETING<\/p>\n

Several images from the new I Know What You Did Last Summer sequel have made their way online in recent months, as you can see throughout this article (and there are more of them below). The first trailer was shown at the CinemaCon event at the beginning of April, then made its way online at the end of the month:<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

The trailer indicates that the violence in this film will be more brutal than what we\u2019ve seen in the previous films, and that\u2019s exactly what Robinson was going for. Talking to\u00a0Collider<\/a>, she said, \u201cI can\u2019t tell you anything about the Fisherman! That ruins all the fun! I guess I can tell you one thing \u2014 this time,\u00a0The Fisherman is a lot more brutal.\u201d She said something similar to\u00a0People<\/a>: \u201cIt is not a serious movie. It is a really fun, popcorn summer event,\u201d and yet, the horror is \u201cratcheted up to a hundred in this \u2014 it\u2019s much more brutal.\u201c<\/p>\n

A poster has also been unveiled, as you can see right here: <\/p>\n

\"I<\/p>\n

And that\u2019s everything we know about the new I Know What You Did Last Summer sequel\u2026 for now. Are you looking forward to this movie? Let us know by leaving a comment.<\/p>\n

\"Jennifer<\/p>\n

\"I<\/p>\n

\"Freddie<\/p>\n

\"I<\/p>\n

Source:
\n Arrow in the Head<\/a><\/p>\n