‘I Know What You Did Last Summer’ Practically “Harassed” Sarah Michelle Gellar To Return

Summer breeze may or may not blow through the jasmine of Jennifer Kaytin Robinson‘s mind, but, regardless, the I Know What You Did Last Summer director simply could not convince one fan-favorite actress to return in the upcoming legacy sequel. In fact, Robinson practically “harassed” Sarah Michelle Gellar to reprise her role from the 1997 film, despite the fact that Ben Willis, a.k.a. the evil Fisherman (Muse Watson), killed off her character Helen Shivers in the original movie. Robinson said in an interview with Entertainment Weekly:

“I tried relentlessly, and she’s dead. I tried, okay? I harassed her! But she is dead. I tried to pitch some crazy sh*t 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.'”

Helen is tragically caught off guard in a dark and damp alley during the celebration of the Croaker Beauty Pageant — mere steps away from surviving as she is pursued by the vengeful killer. However, the teenager is still murdered, which leaves only Julie James (Jennifer Love Hewitt) and her ex-boyfriend Ray (Freddie Prinze Jr.) on the Fisherman’s bloody hit list. Gellar and her character are beloved by the I Know What You Did Last Summer fandom, but even Helen’s return might not have been enough to help the upcoming legacy sequel succeed when it drops in theaters this summer.

Will Fans Be Hooked to See ‘I Know What You Did Last Summer’ in Theaters?

It’s difficult to know with certainty if fans of I Know What You Did Last Summer will pony up the dough to watch director Jennifer Kaytin Robinson’s legacy sequel in cinemas. Honestly, the inclusion of Sarah Michelle Gellar’s Helen Shivers likely wouldn’t have made that much of a difference as far as the film’s financial returns are concerned. In fact, even with both Jennifer Love Hewitt and Freddie Prinze Jr. reprising their roles from the 1997 film and its lackluster 1998 sequel, I Still Know What You Did Last Summer, there doesn’t seem to be much interest in the upcoming movie, at least where reactions to the official trailer are concerned.

The I Know What You Did Last Summer trailer was finally posted to social media on August 22. However, even though the teaser is currently trending at No. 11 on YouTube, the video has amassed less than 1 million views (only 806,811 to be precise), and it’s been live for over 24 hours. Certainly, this doesn’t bode well for the upcoming slasher sequel because fans are the ones who will be purchasing movie tickets — and they don’t seem all that interested. By comparison, the official teaser trailer for Season Two of Wednesday dropped today (August 23), and the footage has tallied almost 2.5 million views in only 11 hours. Additionally, the official teaser trailer for Predator: Badlands has only been online for eight hours, at the time of this writing, and it has already attracted more than 2.2 million viewers.

Sadly, the I Know What You Did Last Summer franchise has never truly resonated with a large fan base. None of the installments, whether they are the two feature films, the direct-to-video flick, or the television series, have scored higher than 48% on the Tomatometer thanks to lackluster reviews from the critics posted on Rotten Tomatoes. However, what’s worse is the fact that audiences haven’t given much love to the horror franchise either. The very best grade surprisingly went to I Still Know What You Did Last Summer, which received an impressive “B” CinemaScore. Part of the problem is the fact that author Lois Duncan’s YA novel I Know What You Did Last Summer (1973) is drastically different — and vastly better — from what fans were presented with on-screen in 1997.

Nevertheless, the original film did make $125.6 million worldwide. I Still Know What You Did Last Summer dropped in cinemas just a year later, and it made even more money over its opening weekend than its predecessor. Unfortunately, the sequel didn’t have any international presence and brought home only $40 million in total. Jennifer Love Hewitt and Freddie Prinze Jr.’s characters survived both the 1997 and 1998 films, but neither appeared in I’ll Always Know What You Did Last Summer (2006), nor the Prime Video take on the source material from 2021. Fortunately, Julie (Hewitt) and Ray (Prinze Jr.) are back for the legacy sequel, which joins the 2025 box office when it hits theaters on July 18. However, will their presence help the movie make enough money to justify the film’s reported production budget of $15 million to $20 million?

Sources: EW, Box Office Mojo, Rotten Tomatoes

I Know What You Did Last Summer

Release Date

July 18, 2025

Director

Jennifer Kaytin Robinson

Writers

Jennifer Kaytin Robinson, Leah McKendrick, Sam Lansky, Lois Duncan

Franchise(s)

I Know What You Did Last Summer