Jennifer Kaytin Robinson, the writer and director of the upcoming I Know What You Did Last Summer sequel, admitted to "harassing" Sarah Michelle Gellar in her attempts to get the actress back for the new installment.
Despite Robinson’s best efforts, Gellar, who famously starred in the 1997 original, refused to reprise her role in the rebooted horror franchise. The new film, set to hit theaters on July 18, 2025, brings back original stars Freddie Prinze, Jr. and Jennifer Love Hewitt, along with a new generation of actors, including Madelyn Cline, Chase Sui Wonders, Sarah Pidgeon, Tariq Weathers, and Jonah Hauer-King. The story follows a new group of young friends who face a familiar evil after a dark event "last summer."
In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Robinson revealed how hard she tried to convince Gellar to return, even pitching some outlandish ideas. "I harassed her! But she is dead," Robinson said, referencing Gellar’s character's death in the first film. Robinson explained she proposed a storyline where Gellar's character, despite being presumed dead, could somehow be alive and in hiding. However, Gellar wasn’t convinced, jokingly referring to herself as "Sarah Dead Gellar" after her character's frozen body was shown in the original.
While Gellar won’t appear in the film, she and Robinson share a close friendship, and Gellar has often joked about her "unofficial" role as the franchise’s continuity expert. In a 2023 interview with People, Gellar playfully described herself as the person who ensures the consistency of the characters and their storylines, even though she won’t be part of the new film.
The I Know What You Did Last Summer reboot will feature a mix of old and new faces, but Gellar’s absence will certainly be felt by fans of the original.
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