While her titular character from the hit series Buffy the Vampire Slayer may have died (and saved the world) a lot, only to return to the land of the living, the same can’t be said for Sarah Michelle Gellar’s character in I Know What You Did Last Summer. More than 25 years ago, the actress put on the crown of Helen Shivers, a beauty queen and one of a handful of high school students caught up in a terrible secret that would lead to their demise. As fans will know, Helen met a brutal ending at the hands – or rather hook – of a masked madman. But, with a reboot on the way, fans have been eager to find out if there’s a chance that Helen will return. After all, Gellar’s husband and original IKWYDLS star Freddie Prinze Jr. is reprising his role, so maybe we’ll see Hollywood’s greatest real-life couple starring opposite one another again? Not if Gellar has anything to say about it.
During a recent conversation with People, Gellar was quick to immediately put the kibosh on any hopes fans may have that somehow Helen survived her slasher slaying. “I am dead,” Gellar said definitively about her character’s fate. She will, however, have a hand in the production as, not only is her hubby working on the set, but the film’s director, Jennifer Kaytin Robinson, is a close pal of Gellar’s, with the friends previously working alongside one another for 2022’s Do Revenge.
“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.”
A true ride or die at heart, Gellar said she’s planning to be there every step of the way, including the movie’s opening night, “My husband is in the movie, my best friend wrote and directed it, [so] I think there’s a pretty good chance I will go to that premiere.”
What’s Happening with the ‘I Know What You Did Last Summer’ Reboot?
Part sequel, part reboot, the upcoming film will be a fresh chapter in the slasher film series first helmed by Danny Cannon. Right now, no specific plot details have been revealed, but with Prinze’s involvement confirmed, and the possibility of Jennifer Love Hewitt’s return up in the air, we know that it will tie in with the original storyline in one way or another. Filling out the lineup’s ensemble is a list of names that includes Jonah Hauer-King (The Little Mermaid), Chase Sui Wonders (Bodies Bodies Bodies), Madelyn Cline (Outer Banks), Sarah Pidgeon (The Wilds) and Tyriq Withers (Atlanta).
Praising the group of up-and-coming talent that has been assembled for the next title in the franchise, Gellar said,
“Jen’s put together such an amazing cast, and I’m so happy and excited for all of them. I will be there with moral support behind the camera.”
Right now, the IKWYDLS reboot is set to slice into cinemas on July 18, 2025. You can stream the original now on Peacock.
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