New ‘I Know What You Did Last Summer’ Director Tried Hard To Get This Star Back

There are many reasons for an actor not to take on a role. They may not connect with the material. Maybe the piece is out of step with their artistic integrity regarding IP. The payment being offered could be below their usual asking price. Perhaps the director looks too much like the actor’s old middle school teacher. There are so many reasons that whenever an actor is said to have turned something down due to “scheduling conflicts,” it’s easy to speculate wildly about what they really mean. But when an actor says they won’t return because their character is dead, it’s pretty easy to take their word.

That was the case for Sarah Michelle Gellar when a reboot (requel?) of I Know What You Did Last Summer was announced. Gellar stars in the first movie and gets got by the end. We see her dead, frozen body. It’s about as definitive of a death as there can be. Regardless, fans wondered if Gellar would return for the new film, and she quickly shot those ideas down. “I am dead,” she explained to PEOPLE in 2023. She didn’t even need a crew of singing Munchkins to do it for her. But her lack of interest didn’t stop the director from trying to get her onboard.

Jennifer Kaytin Robinson is directing the film and is also good friends with SMG. Gellar has offered advice and/or takes on the franchise, but Robinson tried to get her more involved. “I tried, okay? I harassed her! But she is dead,” the director explained to Entertainment Weekly. “I tried to pitch some crazy s*** 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.’” That’s a solid quip.

I don’t blame Gellar for not wanting to return. Respecting the sanctity of your character instead of getting a quick paycheck is pretty cool. I can also understand why fans hoped for her return. The Scream franchise has spent the last two movies getting people used to seeing a de-aged Skeet Ulrich so they can throw a bunch of characters returning from the dead into the newest film without people batting an eye. Since the Scream and I Know What You Did Last Summer films share a kissing cousins level of closeness, I understand people expecting the same from both series.

We will see a lot of familiar elements in the new I Know What You Did Last Summer movie. Freddy Prinze Jr. will be there. Someone in a rain slicker will kill a bunch of teenagers. But we won’t see Sarah Michelle Gellar. It wasn’t for a lack of trying.