Sarah Michelle Gellar Rules Out ‘I Know What You Did Last Summer’ Sequel Return

The slasher franchise I Know What You Did Last Summer is returning with a brand new legacy sequel next year, with Freddie Prinze Jr. confirmed to reprise his role from the original movies and Jennifer Love Hewitt in talks to return as well. One star of the 1997 slasher movie who won’t be back? Sarah Michelle Gellar, who played Helen Shivers.

Sarah Michelle Gellar’s character was memorably butchered in I Know What You Did Last Summer, but it’s not like we haven’t seen previously dead characters return to life in the horror genre. The actress confirms in a new chat with People, however, that she won’t be back.

“I am dead,” Sarah Michelle Gellar flat out responded to the outlet when they asked if she’d be back in next year’s franchise reboot. That doesn’t mean she won’t be contributing to the project behind the scenes, however. The actress tells People, “My best friend [Jennifer Kaytin Robinson] is directing it, so we joke that I have an unofficial job, which is I am continuity.”

“So I’m always the one telling her, ‘Well, that would happen, or that wouldn’t happen with those characters,’ so I do have kind of an unofficial job title,” Michelle Gellar continues.

Sarah Michelle Gellar is of course married to Freddie Prinze Jr., who has been confirmed to reprise the role Ray Bronson in the upcoming sequel to I Know What You Did Last Summer.

The slasher franchise will return to theaters on July 18, 2025.

Madelyn Cline (“Outer Banks”) will star in Sony’s reboot alongside Sarah Pidgeon (“Gotham”), Tyriq Withers (“Atlanta”) and Jonah Hauer-King (The Little Mermaid).

Jennifer Kaytin Robinson (Do Revenge) is on board to direct the new installment in the franchise for Sony, with Leah McKendrick (M.F.A.) writing the original draft of the screenplay. The latest draft, however, was written by Jennifer Kaytin Robinson & Sam Lansky.

Jim Gillespie directed the original I Know What You Did Last Summer back in 1997, written by Kevin Williamson (Scream) and based on Lois Duncan’s novel. The film spawned sequels in 1998 and 2006. Jennifer Love Hewitt and Freddie Prinze Jr. only came back for that first sequel.

More recently, the franchise returned with Amazon’s short-lived television series.