Sarah Michelle Gellar has officially turned down the chance to reprise her iconic role as Helen Shivers in the upcoming legacy sequel to I Know What You Did Last Summer, despite persistent efforts by the film’s director.
While original stars Freddie Prinze Jr. and Jennifer Love Hewitt are returning as Ray Bronson and Julie James, fans hoping to see Gellar’s Helen make a surprise comeback will be disappointed.
Director Jennifer Kaytin Robinson revealed in an interview with Entertainment Weekly that she “tried relentlessly” to convince Gellar to return — even jokingly pitching bizarre plot twists where Helen was secretly alive. “I harassed her,” Robinson laughed. “I was like, ‘What if it’s like you weren’t dead and you’re actually alive, but in hiding?’”
Gellar, however, was quick to shut it down. “I am dead. I am Sarah Dead Gellar,” she quipped, referencing the character’s famously brutal demise in the original 1997 film.
Although Gellar won’t be returning in the flesh, Helen makes a brief appearance in the new trailer via her gravestone, along with her sister Elsa’s.
The sequel picks up with a new group of friends being hunted by a hook-wielding killer after a deadly secret binds them. As the nightmare unfolds, they turn to Ray and Julie — survivors of the Southport Massacre — for help.
Alongside returning stars, the film introduces a new cast including Madelyn Cline, Chase Sui Wonders, Jonah Hauer-King, Sarah Pidgeon, and Tyriq Withers. The film also features Billy Campbell, Lola Tung, and Nicholas Alexander Chavez.
I Know What You Did Last Summer hits cinemas on 18 July 2025.